If Situations Were Reversed
by xXLiFeGoEsOnXx
Summary: What if Jess was the one missing and it was up to Nicole, Antonio, and Pollock to find her? And will finding her be enough to save her from herself and persistent villians who never seem to give up?
1. Something is just not right

This is my first fan fiction…although the idea has been in my head for a VERY long time…

Originally posted on the 1800MISSING yahoo group!

Prologue

It is dawn in the FBI office, and everything is quiet. The streams of pink light play across the floor and the warm glow of orange lights up the window panels. But there isn't any one there to see the sunrise, at least not anyone who is there legally.

No one from the missing person's task force is there yet; even Pollock's office is dark. So dark, in fact, that one lone shadow darting across the room isn't picked up by the cameras. So dark and so empty that the shadow escapes the office, armed and dangerous with newly gained and ill gotten information. The shadow climbs in his car and speeds out of the garage, flipping through the personnel folder for an address. The shadow knows what it wants, what it needs to complete its mission, and it's eyes zero in on an address. The car screeches around the corner and the folder slides off the seat and in to the corner, revealing the picture of a young woman with brown hair and green eyes before the car swerved again and the picture slipped under the seat.

Chapter 1

Nicole Scott paced up and down the hallways before the elevators, her eyes fixated on the steel doors. It wasn't like her to worry about anyone but herself, and she wasn't quite sure how she felt about it, but nonetheless she **was **worried. Jess had yet to come in this morning, and it was already ten o'clock. That wasn't like Jess, wasn't like her at all. They had only been partners for a year, but Nicole knew how much Jess loved to follow the rules, and surely Quantico mentioned something about calling ahead if you were going to be out sick. Especially when there is a big case to be solved, a case that involves the escape of a man that could put hundreds of lives at risk. A man that had played a major part in getting Jess herself shot just last year.

"Hey." Nicole sighed and barely turned around as she nodded her head, her eyes still locked on the door. Antonio didn't understand how worried Nicole was, he thought that Jess had just overslept and would come in a little worse for wear and get yelled at by Pollock. But Nicole had a sinking feeling in her stomach, the same feeling she got before a big case started, the feeling that something bad was happening and she was helpless against it.

"You got to stop worrying, Nic. This is Jess we're talking about, I'm sure everything is fine. Maybe she overslept or got caught up on a phone call with Doug." Nicole could tell that Antonio was trying, desperately, to calm her down but she couldn't get the nagging feeling to leave. That feeling is what made her become an FBI agent, and she knew she had to trust it.

"Since when have you known Jess to be late for any case?" Nicole asked pointedly as she redialed Jess' cell. Antonio searched for an excuse, but soon closed his mouth. Nicole picked up on a note of anxiety in his eyes, too, and that only made her feel worse.

"I'll go check her placement, provided her cell phone is on, and call the apartment building to see if she left yet." Nicole smiled gratefully. The smile was soon wiped off her face when Jess' cell went immediately to voicemail again. Nicole shot the elevators an evil glare and tossed her cell phone angrily onto the nearest desk. She wanted to shoot someone.

"Is there a problem, Agent?" Nicole felt her mood swirl even farther down the drain as she heard the voice of John Pollock. Him. She wanted to shoot him. Pollock, she was sure, going to be furious. "There better be a damn good problem. Something worth having my agents not on the lookout for Jared Hart, who already has a 24 hour head start since his little jail break. So explain to me, Agent Scott, why you, Cortez, and Mastriani aren't looking all over the world for Hart, why instead you are abusing cell phones in my building?" Before Nicole could even open her mouth, Antonio ran to Nicole and took a hold of her elbow. From the look on his face, Nicole knew that all of her worst suspicions were about to be confirmed.

"How bad is it?" She asked, her voice cracking. Nicole wasn't a particularly emotional person by rule, but she genuinely cared for Jess and she was scared for her partner. Even more scared now that Antonio was taking such a long time answering her.

"Her cell phone isn't on, and I called the apartment building, and they said she hadn't left yet. In fact, no one has seen Jess since yesterday morning." Antonio looked directly at Nicole, and she felt her heart rise to her throat. _Don't say it, don't say it, don't… _"Around dawn last night someone broke in to Jess' apartment. The place is in ruins, and, like I said, she is no where to be found and police is swarming all over the place." Nicole turned to look at Pollock, hoping beyond hope that he would let them put the case on hold for just a little bit to go and find Jess. They had to find Jess, failure wasn't an option. Not here, not now, not ever.

"Cortez, you and Scott are going to leave the break in to the police and head over to the conference room to see if we can locate Jared Hart. This man is a national, almost universal, emergency, and he is on our watch list." Nicole was getting angry, even angrier than before, but before she could say anything Antonio addressed the assistant director.

"Sir, this is Jess we're talking about." The two men shared a long look, and Pollock didn't seem wavered at all. Antonio sighed and began to flip through his manila folder. Pollock shot Scott a glare, which she gladly returned, and began to walk away. "Hart was there, Sir. At Jess', last night." Pollock stopped in his tracks and Nicole felt her heart turn to ice. Jared Hart had been relatively harmless when they had "worked" with him before, but he had gotten hundreds of people killed in his time.

Antonio handed Pollock a picture of a black sedan, with the first three license plate numbers/letters **W3F** rolling in to Jess' building. Nicole was terrified for Jess and of the situation, but proud of Antonio. She knew, and Pollock knew, that there was no excuse not to go to Jess' place now.

"That car was rented out three blocks down from the prison, to a man fitting Jared Hart's profile. It drove up to the apartment building around dawn, parked, and left within an hour." Antonio rattled off facts like he did during any other case, but Nicole could detect a note of worry in his usually neutral tone. He was worried, almost as worried as she was, and that made Nicole ten times more scared.

Pollock shot Antonio the angriest, most annoyed look Nicole had ever seen or shot herself.

"Then you and Scott need to get over there, quickly. Find what Hart was doing, and get Mastriani back over here." Nicole and Antonio were halfway out the door before he had even finished his second sentence.

**I have more coming within the next few days, depending on the reactions!**


	2. Jess!

Chapter 2

Nicole and Antonio had to show their badges ten times just to get up to Jess' door. The police was everywhere in the building, searching each and every room, looking for any place Jess or Jared Hart could possibly be. They were swarming about, and the entire building echoed with radio calls. Normally, the police doesn't take this much interest in a break in. But this break in was in an FBI agent's apartment, possible because of an escaped convict, and now that agent is missing. Missing. Just thinking the word made bile rise in Nicole's throat. Jess wasn't missing, she was just…out. She had to be, just had to be.

"Nic?" Nicole turned around to see Antonio looking at her, concerned, holding out a pair of latex gloves. "They want us to go in, see if we can find anything that was specific to Jared Hart." Nicole nodded mutely and they stepped over the threshold, Antonio keeping a hold of her elbow. It wasn't like Nicole to be so emotional and worried, and he found that it made him worry more, about her and about the situation. Jess was an amazing person and a great agent, and if Jared Hart had dared to try anything... Antonio knew he wasn't going to be the only one bringing down their wrath upon Hart. Nicole had quite a bite, when provoked, and Jess was...family. No one messes with the family of a law enforcer.

"Oh my god," Nicole said in a tight voice and turned around, so she wasn't looking directly at it. The apartment was a mess, with everything tossed in opposite corners and the furniture was ripped in places. Couches were overturned, a leg was broken off of a chair and lay in the mist of a broken coffee table, and the TV looked as if someone had chucked it across the room; it was broken with a large gash threw the screen and was on the opposite side of the room from the TV stand. In one corner, near the door, was a large dash of blood. It was on the wall in a huge stain, and had dripped down to cause a puddle on the white carpet.

Antonio walked over to the bloodstain, just knowing that this blood had to belong to Jess. It was an unhealthy amount of blood to loose, but it wouldn't kill someone right away. If Hart was hurt, his car wouldn't have left the apartment and Jess could have gotten away. Jess was in danger…Jared Hart must have attacked her and carried her off somewhere, and she was bleeding heavily. From that angle, it looked like a head wound, and those are never good.

The agents stayed another hour, Antonio collecting samples of blood and strands of hair to take back to the lab, and Nicole, doing her best to think of any place Hart might have taken Jess. Doing her best not to fall down and cry. Jess was bleeding heavily, and kidnapped by a madman who had escaped from prison. The only hope they had was that Jess had gotten away from Hart, or that it might not have been Hart. He was their lead suspect, and they were quite certain there had been a kidnapping, but Nicole was hoping to find out that it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

"Agents? We have something you might be interested in." Someone called out from the hall. Nicole and Antonio shared a long look, and scurried over their fast. It could be good, it could be bad, but whatever it was it had to do with Jess.

"We took this off the surveillance camera in the hall." The officer handed Antonio a grainy picture printout. Antonio and Nicole looked at it, curiously, and Nicole felt a moan escape her throat. The picture, although of bad quality, clearly showed an unconscious Jess with a huge gash on her forehead in the arms of a very angry looking Jared Hart.


	3. Revelations

**Hey! Sorry it took me so long to update….finals and writers block don't really help much with the concentration. But I can promise many more chapters to come, since DISH no longer has Lifetime and I am without my weekly MISSING fix. **

Chapter 3

When Jess opened her eyes, the first thing she was aware of just happened to be the mind-numbing pain in her head. The second thing was Jared Hart, who was sitting on the other side of the room staring at her with an intensity that must have hurt his eyes. It certainly hurt hers.

"You're awake," He said, simply stating the obvious. The voice he used revealed his amusement with the whole situation, and his pride. Jess shot him a glare, not sure if she was going to answer him or not. Things were still very fuzzy, but she did remember Jared Hart being the one who had taken her to this…rat infested building, and she was pretty sure it wasn't because he wanted to catch up on things.

Jess tried to sit up so she could get a better glimpse at her surroundings, but the slightest movements sent her crashing to the floor in pain. Her head felt like it was on fire, and when she touched it she felt a warm, sticky substance. She knew it was blood, even though she couldn't see anything in this light.

"Why." Jess asked, her voice a mere croak because of her silent screams of pain. Jared smiled, amused and laughed a little before answering. He was clearly getting a kick out of her predicament.

"To have a little fun. To make your team members suffer like I have suffered in jail, to make you know what it's like to be alone and captive and have no way out. To put you, my dear, in a jail of your own with me at the wheel. And you will never get out." Jared's words, and the cold calculating way that he said them, threw Jess in to a vision.

_She saw a man with no face, busting through a brick wall with a jack hammer, and a woman with an eye in the middle of her forehead at the receiving end of the bricks and debris. There was a bucket in his arms, full of bread and nails, and then an angry rat lashed out at the room, and blood seemed to spill from the very cracks of the wall. _

Jess began to breathe heavily, and then tried to single-handedly interpret the vision. Ok, the man with no face…Jared, had to be, because he had no real identity, and he was a totally different person from the man that they had worked with on the Bianci case. The woman with the eye in the middle of her forehead…that was the same as the vision she had during the case when Nicole was pretending to be an arms dealer with an ex-boyfriend. So this vision was about her, the psychic with the eye in the middle of her forehead, and her kidnapper, who was Jared Hart. She wasn't exactly thrilled to be having a vision about herself, because she didn't really want to think that she was or had been missing long enough for a vision, but she figured that a vision might help her get a location. What conclusions could she reach, exactly, without the FBI database? She had the random parts of the vision; the brick wall, the bucket of bread and nails, and the rat and bleeding room, but she had no way to find her location. She could think for hours, but only the FBI database seemed to be able to piece together her visions well enough to get an exact location. Basically, she was screwed. And at the mercy of an angry, vindictive con man. Jess didn't like her odds

A hand shot out and grabbed Nicole by the arm. All of her FBI reflexes screamed at the sudden contact and her muscles wanted to protest and protect, but she didn't have the strength. She had been working herself to the bone for the past 14 hours, looking for Jess, and she was completely sapped of any energy. Thankfully, the arm belonged to a coffee-carrying Antonio. Nicole smiled gratefully and took the coffee, never stopping her rapid typing or internet searches. Nothing would happen to Jess, not on Nicole's watch. What kind of agent was she if she couldn't even protect the ones she loved?

Antonio watched Nicole with a mix of worry and pride. He was very proud that closed off Nicole had opened up so much to Jess, cared so much about her partner. He was proud that she was working so hard to find Jess, proud that she hadn't collapsed back in that apartment; that picture only seemed to make her stronger, more determined. As proud as he was, Antonio was two times more worried. Nicole was eating up her emotions and energy like a wild thing, and he knew her mind and body couldn't take too much more of this constant, racing pace. Sooner or later, if she continued like this, her body would fail her.

"Nic," Antonio's voice was gentle and almost soothing, but it contained an underlying message of steel. Nicole shook her head a few times before finally turning around to face him.

"What? I need to do this, Antonio. I need to bring Jess home. She would do the same for me, and we both know it." Nicole carried a willful look in her eyes, but her voice seemed to echo of pain and worry and fatigue.

"You can't help Jess if you work yourself in to a coma. You have barely recovered from your head injury, and you haven't stopped for 14 hours. Rest." He saw her open her mouth in protest, and rushed to ease her worries. "You don't even have to go home. There is a couch right by my office, nap there, and I promise we will call you if there is a single lead." Nicole started to shake her head, but a sudden wave of exhaustion hit her at full blast. The sooner she slept, the sooner she could get up.

"Fine, I will take a little nap." She stalked from the room, and only Antonio's trained eye could detect the slowed pace of her walk and the slight lilt to one side.

"Ok, then….sing to me, computer. Tell me everything there is to know about Jared Hart." His fingers flew in a fury of letters and ideas, noise cascading from the keyboard and echoing off the empty office walls. Everyone but Nicole, him and Pollock had been sent somewhere; to Harts prison, his last house, even to his wife's house. Anything and everything could help.

Nicole closed her eyes, and fell asleep almost immediately. Except her dreams were anything but peaceful. Even in her sleep, she sought out her lost partner, hoping beyond hope that Jess was ok.

Jess used her years of FBI training to hide her panic from her face. She used her elbows and stomach to crawl in to a niche in the wall, careful not to lift her head. She wasn't sure what hiding could do, but it gave her a false sense of security.

"Oh, AAAAgent. I have a surprise for you…." Jared Hart's voice wafted throughout the room as he walked towards her. "A present, if you will. Do you feel like having a chat with the FBI today? I certainly do. Give them a little update on your situation, shall we? And we must make them see that you, my dear, are now my revenge on your whole office. And word's aren't exactly my strong suit…" Jared was getting closer to her, and as much as Jess retracted, his appearance was inevitable. The last thing she saw was the malice in his eyes and the large, black object he lifted above her head. Then, her world went black.

**Updating within the next few weeks, I have some amazing new ideas!**


	4. Master Plan

**Very excited by the show this week and the previews for next, not to mention the reviews, so I decided to update a little early….**

Chapter 4

Nicole opened her eyes to a dark and silent office, and even though the bay window was uncovered, only a few thin streams of light entered. Shadows danced along the back wall, and the eerie creaking of night had settled in to the building. She swore as she looked at her watch. **Damn it, Antonio, **She thought, annoyed, as she worked out the kink in her neck. Someone her height should not sleep on a couch….**I didn't need to sleep this long! I need to cure my antsy feeling, my worry, much more than I need to cure my exhaustion. **

Nicole walked down the corridor in desperate search of Antonio. She was more than prepared to give him a piece of her mind. How was she supposed to use her FBI skills if she was fast asleep? Nicole had never felt so helpless in her entire life, but at least when she was awake she could try.

She stopped short when she saw Colin McNeil sitting in the reception area. His head was between his hands and he was dressed in a bathrobe. But, he didn't even seem to care…He looked up at Nicole when she walked up to him, and his face told her all she needed to know. He knew, and he was terrified.

"Hey. I meant to call you, but with everything," Nicole started to explain, feeling a little guilty for not even remembering to call Jess' boyfriend.

"No, no I don't care who called. I just want to help bring her home. Do you have anything, anything at all?" Colin's face was desperate and his eyes held a look of utter pain and human suffering. He was aching inside, same as her, and Nicole knew that he had fallen in love with her partner.

"We know who has her. We just don't know how to find them." Nicole said, grimly. "Jared Hart is not known for keeping reality or property, at least not under his own name, and it would take months to search all of his aliases." Colin nodded and began to pace around. He stopped short when Pollock grasped him by the elbow.

"I see you came in a rush. Good, we may be able to enlist your specialty contacts of expertise. First, however, come to my office and change in to something a little less comfortable." Pollock's voice was strong and demanding, like always, but it was also laced with worry and pain. He, too, was worried for Jess. Somehow, this revelation seemed to scare Nicole even more. Pollock wasn't afraid of anything, he was extremely cocky.

"Nicole!" Antonio's pinched voice rang out through the hall. With one brief glance and Pollock and Colin, she took off at a dead run. Whatever he found, it was not good, not good at all.

"What?" she asked, breathlessly. Fear and a fast paced sprint down the corridor had severally limited her windpipe.

Antonio's face was bleak and his hands were twitching like he always did when he wasn't sure how to share his findings. "Hart sent us a video. Of Jess."

When Jess opened her eyes, she was suddenly aware of her surroundings. Something was different. She was still in a rat-infested, damp and dark building, but it was a different building. It smelled faintly like bread, and she knew that smell hadn't been obvious before. Jared Hart had moved her. This was not good; the more she was moved; the harder it was to be traced. Plus, she didn't even remember switching locations. She remembered being hit over the head, it was hard to forget when her head throbbed so horribly, but everything after was fuzzy.

Jess groaned, more than a little bit annoyed and extremely frightened. Her head felt like it was ready to explode. Before, when all she had was a cut, she had thought that the pain couldn't possible increase. Now, that she has the added gesture of a bang to the head, her earlier pain felt like a picnic. Jared must have also hit her in the ribs and stomach, because breathing hurt like hell and her side was aching. These little parting gifts made her shake with fear. He definitely was planning something; he was too smart to deal out little injuries whenever he felt like it. No, each and every injury had a place in his master plan.

Jess grimaced as Jared Hart's plan dawned on her. Before he knocked her out, he has made a very cocky statement about teaching her fellow agents a lesson. Jess clearly remembered him mentioning a video. What do you wanna bet, She thought, That Jared Hart decided to add a few more injuries to me before he shot the video? A little added incentive to get my friends out here. But why would he want them to come and find her, if he was so set on making them suffer?

Suddenly, Jess remembered something crucial. Her plan. She had worked for so long on her plan, making sure it was well prepared. She had wanted to be certain that it was included in his video, but unfortunately she hadn't been awake during that little venture. Now, she just had to pray that it had worked, and her fellow agents could decipher it.

As much as I want them to find me, part of me is wary. Jared Hart wants us all to suffer, and he practically sent them an invitation. I even sent them my own version of a message, and I truly do not think that Jared Hart missed my clues. No, he had wanted me to send it. He wants to lure them all to me, therefore to him. He has a huge plan, that I know, and I don't think making me suffer is enough revenge for someone like him. My vision shows mass bloodshed….is he planning a full out massacre?

Jess' heart sank when she realized that she could be the tool Jared Hart was using to bring the Missing Person's Unit to their bloody death. And she had played write in to his plan.


	5. Trauma

**Sorry it took me so long to update, I have been out of town. But I have an amazing idea for this story, I am positive it will be great! Might take a few more chapters to finish though…don't get too mad at me along the way.I havea vision, but the path there wont be pretty. **

Chapter 5

Nicole could hear the beating of her heart and it sounded as loud as a freight train. A video is never good. Especially a video from someone like Jared Hart. Nicole sent out a silent prayer for Jess's safety. Then, almost dragging her heels with dread, she went over to Antonio's computer. Everyone; Pollock, Antonio, and Colin, all looked as upset as she felt. They all knew the danger that Jess was in, and they all were terrified of this video and what it might contain. Was this Jared's way of asking for a ransom, or telling them their friend was dead?

* * *

Jess could hear Jared Hart walking, feel the constant dripping of liquid on her feet, but she couldn't see him or find the liquid's source. Everything was dark, and the edges of her vision field seemed to crackle with electricity. She tried desperately to remember how she got here, or even why she was here, but all of her memories were jumbled up. Jess remembered Jared, and a lot of pain. But the rest of her thoughts seemed to be behind a wall of fog, almost impossible to access. Jess began to recap her injuries and calamities, taking a silent inventory. Her head was pounding beyond belief, her ribs ached, and her side was twisted in to a knot of pulled muscles. Her vision was failing her; everything seemed to be less and less visible every moment, and she had major issues thinking and remembering. From Nicole's history with concussions, and all the worrying Jess did during that escapade, she knew that she had a head injury. Apparently a bad one.

She touched the back of her head, and almost screamed. Panic rose in to her throat and her mouth opened with a will of its own, in a silent gasp of horror and pain. Her hair was matted with liquid, and she knew it was blood. Her blood, and a lot of it. She could feel the blood, and she was experiencing vision issues, nausea, and definitely muddled thoughts and brain activity. It took Jess a few seconds to remind herself how to sit up; that's not normal brain activity at all. Neither is feeling like your head is full of fog, and having an inability to access thoughts easily. Did Jared hit her over the head? Was she having these problems because he smacked her around, or had she been given a drug of some kind? Why didn't she have that answer?

Jess was terrified that she would loose her vision, complete use of her movement abilities or even dip into a coma from an untreated concussion. If Nicole hadn't treated her concussion, she could have easily entered a coma…and Jess knew that she at least had a concussion, if not something more. Was this Jared's plan? Hurt her to a point of no return and leave her here to suffer, so that her team members found her at the brink of death? Jess really hoped not; she didn't want to die, especially not slowly, and she didn't want her team to find her in a horrible condition. She knew it would be hell on them, just like seeing them hurt would be hell on her.

"Hello, agent. Feeling alright? Did you sleep well?" Jared Hart seemed to have snuck up on her, and she would have jumped if she wasn't in so much pain. Even wincing seemed to cause agony. He definitely knew how to catch a girl when she was down.

"Not exactly the finest establishment, but I'll live." Jess retorted with a cracking, wispy voice. Jared's slow chuckled filled every crevice of the room, and Jess winced from the malicious sound. Goosebumps rose on her skin and a chill rushed down her spine. He was seriously enjoying this.

"That has yet to be determined. My plan, however, has been set in to action. I am having a marvelous time and am almost sad to see it come to an end. But, like all great things, the time has come for us to separate and for this experience to be concluded." Jess made out Jared's shadow as he approached her, and she desperately tried to inch away from him. But she knew it was to no avail, and he easily caught her. He picked her up with no effort at all, and threw her over his shoulder forcefully. Jess hurt too much to resist, letting her body fall limp as a noodle. She wasn't ready to give up, but she wasn't going to fight a loosing battle. She would just wait for the right moment.

Jared clipped a corner as he left the doorway and Jess's vulnerable ribs cracked against the wooden frame. Pain felt like hot fire as it raced down her veins. She could feel herself succumbing to the pain, but the last of her FBI instincts kicked in as she grabbed the shiny object from the back pocket of Jared's jeans. Whatever it was, her instincts told her that having it was necessary for her survival. As her fingers closed around the object, the pain seemed to overtake her nervous system and her body blacked out, eager to end the constant agony. Lucky for Jess, however, that her body had been trained to hold tightly to that shiny object no matter what.

* * *

Antonio looked at Nicole, almost as if asking permission, and poised his mouse over the PLAY button on the video. Nicole jerked her head, and balled her hands into tight fists. Whatever it was, she could handle it. Had to handle it. For Jess. Antonio, nodding, hit the play button and braced himself. Whatever was coming was definitely not good. Jess was like family to him, and he was terrified to see whatever Jared Hart had delivered.

** Jared Hart smiled at the camera, and waved slightly, his eyes full of malevolent pride and obvious hate. **

** "I bet you have wondering what exactly Agent Mastriani and I have been up to over this past week. We've been….catching up. As much fun as I have been having, I seemed to have reached a dead end. This whole experience has been amusing, but I decided it would be much more fun if everyone was invited. So, here you are, and here I am, so I guess I should go wake Jess up. **

As the camera blacked out, Nicole felt hope bubble in her stomach. Obviously, Jared Hart was insane but "waking Jess up" seemed to imply that she was still alive. He sure sounded insane, but maybe, just maybe, he let Jess live.

** The camera turned back to Jared. He laughed, and began to pan the camera out slowly around the room. It came to stop on Jess. She was lying on the floor, and she didn't look good at all. Blood was dripping down her face and coated her back, which had been turned to the camera, and her face was deathly pale. Her entire body seemed to be resting in a pool of her own blood, and the only visible skin on her torso was black and blue. The camera zoomed in on a hole in Jess' jacket. It was exactly the size of a bullet hole. **

** The camera returned to Jared, who smiled from ear to ear. "It doesn't look like Agent Mastriani will be waking up. Ever again. Have a nice night, Agents. I know I will." The film went black.**

Nicole felt bile rise in her throat and she felt faint for the first time in her life. Jess…dead! She looked around the room desperately and saw that everyone seemed just as horrified as her. Antonio's face was ghastly, and his eyes were filled with unshed tears. Pollock was green, and staring way too hard at the still computer screen. Colin had tears coursing down his face, and he was silently gasping for air.

"I think I am going to be sick." Colin stated in a thin voice, and ran from the room. Nicole looked at Antonio and Pollock, and their eyes met. A silent message passed between the three of them, a message of dreaded acknowledgement, and then Nicole began to cry. Antonio stood up, as if walking through molasses, and held her tightly to him. The both began to cry on each other's shoulders as Pollock wordlessly got up and entered his office.

Jess was dead.

**Updating soon, I promise.  
**


	6. Dangerous Discoveries

**Ok I have an amazing plan for this story….and it might take me a few days to update because I am writing all of my chapters after I see the episodes and get inspired. **

Chapter 6

Jess opened her eyes and blinked twice in surprise. She was lying in a bed, and there was a fan on the ceiling. There was light in the room. _Was all of this a dream? This wasn't her house, but did she dream everything up? _

"Well, look who's up." The voice was hard and sounded amused, and Jess turned her head. There was a very tall man holding a rifle standing at the foot of the bed. _So much for the dream theory. _Jess tried to sit up, but got blasted with a wave of pain. Her entire body shocked her at once and she felt her field of vision go darker. She slumped back in to the pillow, and gasped instinctively. It hurt so much…and she knew unconsciousness was coming. But she didn't care. She hurt too much to care. But she's be damned if she went out before she found out what the hell was going on.

"Where is Jared Hart, and where am I?" her voice sounded pleading even to her ears, but she had to know before she succumbed to the pain. If there was any chance to survive this, she had to be alert and aware of the facts just incase she got an opportunity.

"Mr. Hart had some business to attend to, but he will return shortly and then you two will be on your way. I am here to make sure you don't do anything stupid, and forget who you are dealing with. Where you are is none of your concern. Just be happy you are alive." Jess tried to ask him more questions, but her ears were ringing and her eyes were stinging and her entire body hurt like hell. She couldn't fight it any more, so she finally yielded to the pain and fell under the sweet blanket of unconsciousness. She just hoped that Nick and Antonio were not following those clues she left in the video. Who knows what would happen if they did….

Antonio entered the office under the cloak of night. It was pitch black and quiet, which is just what he needed for this particular job. It was better to do this when it was quiet and no one was around to start crying. He had to be professional about this.

Antonio opened the email and opened up Jared Hart's email. He froze the video as soon as it opened up on the screen. He took a deep breath, bracing himself. This was going to hurt…he loved Jess like a sister, and he wasn't looking foreword to this.

Antonio spent the next hour zooming in on every detail in that video, desperately looking for clues. The early-bird employees were already filtering in to the office when he finally found what he was looking for. He zoomed in as far as possible on the wall behind Jess' head. Yes! There were words written there, legible words. He scribbled them down on a scrap piece of paper and looked at them, his heart beating in his ears. They were one step closer to finding her.

**Jared Hart. Bleeding, broken brick wall. Bread and nails. Rat attacking. **

Antonio smiled despite himself. _A vision! Jess had had a vision, and left them clues to find her. All he had to do was interpret them, and they would be one their way. _He refused to believe that she was dead. Jared wanted something from them. Antonio sent out a silent promise to Jess to find what her clues lead him to.

**I know it's short and not really eventful, but the next one is where all the action is…**


	7. Heat

**Sorry it took me so long to update…I had to get my ideas straight….I will need feedback at the end of this chapter, because I have 2 paths for this story. I need people to tell me what they want!**

**Chapter 7**

"Nick, I got something!" Antonio called out, holding the printout over his head. He walked around the office, looking for Nicole. As he turned the corner in to the "kitchen" he saw her. She was sitting at the table, staring at cup of coffee as if it was the most important thing in the world. Her face sparkled with moisture and her hands were clenched tight, and she hardly even blinked. Antonio watched her as she silently fought with her pain. Her chin and bottom lip were trembling with repressed emotions, but she wouldn't give in. She has always said that showing pain was showing weakness, and it was obvious that her heart was rebelling against those pre-set boundaries.

"Nick?" Antonio said as soothingly as he knew how, and approached her warily. Nicole on a good day was a force to be reckoned with, but an upset Nicole was worse than a nuclear bomb. Worse, she wasn't dealing with the pain, and that could mean a total breakdown. "I found something."

Nicole slowly turned her head, trying desperately to take the hope and raw pain out of her eyes. She had been crying for 5 straight hours, and she still felt like she had swallowed acid. The pain she felt seared through her stomach, her lungs, and her heart and seemed to numb her brain. She could hardly breathe without mourning for Jess, and every time she closed her eyes her mind replayed that video. Whatever Antonio found, good or bad, couldn't possibly make her feel any worse.

"What did you find?" Nicole's voice was scratchy, but full of hope. She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I went over the video, piece by piece, to see if I could find any environmental clues. What I did find was a message from Jess. She wrote it on the back wall; I think it means she had a vision." Antonio placed the paper on the table for Nicole to look at. She always was the best at interpreting Jess' visions.

**Jared Hart. Bleeding, broken brick wall. Bread and nails. Rat attacking. **

"What can that mean? Jared Hart is obvious. The broken, bleeding brick wall could mean…death." Nicole felt her throat close as she said that word. Death. It made chills crawly up her spine.

"Or construction. Walls being broken could mean walls being rebuilt, and that goes with the nails, and the blood could stand for danger." Antonio offered. "I drew up a list of any buildings being reconstructed within a 5 mile radius of Jess' apartment. None of them are near a bakery, and for the life of me I can't find a reference to rats." Antonio pulled a three page list of buildings from his manila folder. Nicole groaned and shook her head in frustration.

"We don't have time to check all of these!" She voice cracked on the last syllable, and Antonio had a desperate desire to hold her in a hug until all of her pain went away. He knew, however, that the only way to help Nicole and everyone else was to find Jess. Dead or alive, a body was better than nothing. He wanted her to be alive with every fiber of his being, but after that video he doubted it.

"That one." Antonio and Nicole almost jumped out of their seats when they heard Pollock speaking. Antonio looked to where Pollock was gesticulating; a warehouse name at the bottom of the list.

"That one, sir?" Nicole asked. "What makes you say so?" Pollock looked at her for a second longer than necessary, and Nicole good see pain in his gaze. He was hurting, too.

"Topo Storage. Topo means 'rat' in Italian." With that, Pollock turned to walk back to his office, and then stopped as if remembering something. "I will be sending a tactical team there, to help you in case Hart is difficult. Bring her home, agents."

Nicole looked at the paper, her gaze practically burning a hole on to the page. Antonio could see her hesitation.

"What?" he asked, already standing up and ready to go. As far as he was concerned, he would do anything for Jess. If she was there, he would never ask God for anything ever again. But even if she was…dead…he could kick Jared Hart from here to Haiti.

"If we go, and find her like **that** then it will really be real. She will really be gone. I don't think I can deal with that, Antonio." Antonio sighed as he recognized the genuine fear in Nicole's voice. He was surprised. He would have thought she would have wanted to tear rubber and do anything possible, even if all hope was lost. She had always been more 'take action'.

"In my opinion, whatever we find, we owe it to Jess to close this case and to do whatever we can to bring Jared Hart to justice." Nicole nodded her head and stood up.

"Lets go bring her home, Antonio. No matter what happened to her, her place is with us, even in the end. Let's make Hart sorry he ever messed with her, because heaven knows I want that mans face on a bull's eye." Antonio smiled at the strong tone of her voice and her set walk as she rushed to the elevator. This was the Nicole he knew; she would do what was right for Jess. No matter what happened to her.

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Jess opened her eyes to a mess of misty colors swirling around her. She couldn't see anything at all, nothing concrete, and her head felt like it had been bashed with a crowbar. She felt the earth moving beneath her, and every slight movement made her eyes water with pain. Blinking a few times, she managed to make out the interior of a car. Jess knew better than to sit up, so she tried to get clues of her surroundings without moving. The longer she could stay conscious the better, and if the pain got too great she would pass out again. Jess slowly raised her arm and patted her hip. Something cold and uncomfortable was there, and she wanted to move it. To her glee and surprise, it was a phone. A cell phone. She was saved! Jess turned it on, muffling the sound as best as she could with her shirt. To her dismay, there was no service here. Jess fought down the panic in her throat and stuffed the phone in to a safe and discreet place. Finally, she had a plan. She could contact Nicole or Collin. Somehow this made her feel better, and her pain seemed to lessen. It wasn't going to end like this; she wasn't going to let it.

"I see that you're up. Good. I was beginning to think you had died while I was gone, and I didn't want to miss that." Hart's voice was filled with pride and smugness, and Jess felt her heartbeat quicken. What was he planning, exactly?

"Where are we going?" Jess asked, trying to get something she could tell Nicole. She didn't remember much, the pain had created a non permeable haze around her memory, but she wanted to help them find her.

"Don't concern yourself with that, leave your dying location to me. But lets just say that I wont have to worry about anyone finding your body for another hundred years."

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Nicole and Antonio pulled up to the warehouse a mere two seconds before the tactical team. Her eyes set in determination; Nicole cocked her gun and walked towards the door. She and Antonio shared a silent agreement, and they both entered at the same time.

Nicole's eyes swept the interior, looking for any of Jess or Hart in this miserable place. The ceiling was dripping something to grey to be water, and the floor was a mess of mud and broken concrete. Nicole hated to think of Jess…dying…in a place like this.

"Nicole…look." She rushed over to where Antonio was standing. There, on the wall in a particularly dark corner, were words. It was Jess's message, written in mud near where she had been taped. Nicole looked around, and felt bile rise in her throat for the second time in the past 48 hours. There was a massive blood stain on the floor, and Nicole jumped back with pain and horror.

"This is where he did it. This is where he killed her. Right here." Her voice was hollow and Antonio knew that there was nothing to say. There was so much blood…even if she was alive, she wouldn't be for long.

A large droplet hit him in the nose and he looked up instinctively. What caught his eye was not liquid at all.

"Nicole, we have to get out of here, now." Nicole jerked her eyes up from the bloodstain, and followed his finger. She gasped. There was a very large explosive device strapped to the ceiling bar, and she instantly knew it had been placed there for them.

"Run!" Antonio yelled, and she began to follow him out of the warehouse as fast as she could. Blood pounded in her ears and her legs ached.

"I see the exit!" Nicole yelled. Suddenly, she felt a burning heat on her back and a deafening sound filled the room. The bomb had exploded, and the building was on flames.

**Hahaha cliffhanger…**

**Ok I need to know…do you want them to find Jess soon, or should I make it take longer and include a sub-story/ mini plot I have in my head? **


	8. Dilemma

**Ok, subplot it is. Thank you everyone for sending in your vote! I have to wrap this up a bit sooner than I though to make the subplot work, but it will definitely be there…prepare for the twist of a lifetime!**

**Chapter 8**

Pollock dropped his headphones on to the floor and jumped out of his chair. He had been listening to the tactical team's microphones as they approached the warehouse, and what he had heard made his heart stop. A loud, explosive sound had rung through his headphones and then the microphones, all fifteen of them, went dead. The tactical team had been a good 100 yards from the warehouse when it exploded, but Scott and Cortez…they had been inside. What happened to them?

Terrified that he could have lost two more agents, Pollock opened the door of his hideaway truck and jumped out. He sprinted towards the warehouse, completely oblivious of the oncoming traffic or the fact that he had just exposed his hiding spot to hundreds of people.

"Scott, Cortez!" Pollock yelled blindly as he ran toward the exploded building. His hopes plummeted when he saw the shape of the warehouse. The remains of the building, the back wall and half of the foundation, was still smoldering. It had been blown almost clean away. There was no way Agent Scott and Agent Cortez could have survived that.

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Jess felt the car jerk to a stop and winced when her ribs were jolted. She heard the door slam shut, and she knew she only had a few seconds before Jared Hart was going to get to her. Desperate, she checked to make sure the cell phone was on and stuffed it between the seat cushions. It was her lifeline, the only chance that she could be found, and she had to keep that hope alive. And not a moment too soon, because the second she removed her hand, the door opened. Jess could make out the sound of water, and she was overpowered with the scent of greenness. They were somewhere in the woods, she knew that, and near running water. The question was, where? And could Nicole and Antonio trace the GPS from that phone and find her in time? Or would Hart finally win?

"Hello, Agent. Feeling any better?" Hart's voice was so smug, it was almost unrecognizable. Well, then again, the overpowering pain in her head might have something to do with how strange he sounded.

"I've been better." Jess' voice sounded weak even to her ears, and she knew that

Hart would pick up on it. She was just running out of strength, time, and endurance. Jess was a trained FBI agent, and she had seen what happened to people who lost as much blood as she had. They died.

She could feel it the same way that she felt the wind and the sun on her face: her life was coming to an end. Most people don't know when they are going to die, and when it happens they are struck with a sense of surprise and dread. Jess could feel her body being drained of its will to live with every wave of pain that overtook her, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to handle much more. Her time had just run out, and her body was overworked and too burned out to fight. Right now, death would be a welcome release from this anguish. But she refused to give Hart the satisfaction of killing her, even if it meant living in agony for a little while longer.

"Well, time is up, I am afraid. I am almost sorry to see you go; it has been so much fun. But, like all good things, its time for an end." Hart reached foreword and grabbed her under her arms, slowly dragging her out of the car. Her body wilted like a dying flower. He was dragging her to her death, and she didn't have enough energy to put up a fight. Hart gave an extra tug, and her tender ribs were jolted as her back hit the chair with increased velocity. The pain was overwhelming, sweeping along her body and settling in to her bones like flaming liquid iron. The pain got too much for her to handle, and Jess eagerly welcomed the dark, cool blanket of unconsciousness. Anything, even death, had to be better than this. Her mind didn't want to die and give up, but her body wouldn't let her live through this pain much longer

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"Nicole!" Antonio called out desperately, coughing from the smoke in his lungs. He had managed to escape the building right before the explosion. The strength of the bomb had sent him flying in to a parked car, but besides a few scrapes and bruises he was fine. But Nicole had been a good yard behind him, and he was petrified that she hadn't made it. He couldn't loose her, not now, not like this.

"Antonio?" Antonio heard her voice, weak, coming from the remains to his left. Breaking in to a run, he reached the site where the warehouse had stood in mere seconds. Nicole's voice had come from the entrance of the warehouse, which was now just a pile of ashes and a few chunks of smoldering concrete. Grunting, he lifted a concrete block and pushed it out of his way. He still didn't see her.

"Nic? Speak to me!" He called out again, his eyes searching for her. He refused to loose her after he had finally found her again. After Phoenix, he had spent years in a dating haze. No one had ever lived up to Nicole, and Antonio didn't think anyone ever would. If they all got out of this alive, wild horses couldn't keep him from telling her his feelings.

"Here!" Nic's voice came from underneath an FBI SUV, a few feet behind the actual explosion site. His heart lifted, and an unintentional smile took over his face. She had escaped the direct explosion; she wasn't hurt badly, it at all.

"Cortez!" Antonio spun around to see Pollock, advancing towards him rapidly. "You alright? Where's Scott?" Pollock leaned over to catch his breath as Antonio answered.

"Scott is under that car. She sounds fine, but I haven't seen her yet, sir." Both men walked over to he car, and Pollock squatted so he could see Nicole face to face.

"You alright, Agent?" Antonio looked under the car as Pollock spoke, not trusting Nicole to honestly describe her situation. She has so proud, and so determined to find Jess, she wouldn't say if she was hurt for the life of her.

"I'm fine, sir. Just my arm…I think I sprained my wrist in the fall. Nothing an ACE bandage won't fix." Nicole crawled out from under the car as she spoke. Clutching her wrist to her chest, she turned to face Antonio and smiled slightly. He looked her over, checking to make sure she wasn't lying. Her hair was a mess, there were ashes on her face, and she had scraped the side of her face on the concrete. Besides that, and an obviously inflamed wrist, she seemed fine.

"Good, Agent. Both of you, head over to the medic and get cleaned up. Now." Pollock looked sternly at them, and no matter how reluctantly, they knew they had to listen.

The medic has just finished wrapping Nicole's wrist when a phone rang.

"Cortez?" an unfamiliar voice called out from the FBI tactical team at the crash site.

"Here!" Antonio called out. The man walked towards him and handed Antonio a cell phone.

"It's for you, from AD Pollock." Antonio looked at the phone, puzzled, and answered it.

"Hello?"

"It's Thea. I have been monitoring Jared Hart's cell phone use. Before, nothing. Now, his GPS is on and he is in a fixed location."

"You know where he is?" Antonio's voice was excited, and Nicole walked over to him quickly. Had they finally gotten a break, and found Hart?

"All we can get is that he is somewhere inside Kingstown National Wildlife Reserve in Northern Virginia. That's all we can get, but I will keep probing the signal for something more specific."

Antonio hung up the phone and turned to the man standing near the medic's station.

"Bring me a laptop, as fast as you can." Antonio's voice was hopeful, and Nicole's pulse began to flutter.

"Jess?"

"Somewhere in Kingstown National Wildlife Reserve." Antonio's voice was hopeful, but Nicole could see the worry in his eyes.

"Where?" She had never heard of that place, and it had to be big. There wasn't enough time to search the whole thing…they needed a fixed location. Jess, if she was even still alive, didn't have much time. She had lost too much blood; that stain on the floor was humongous. Thinking about Jess like that, dead or slowly wasting away, was making Nicole queasy. She shook her head, and concentrated on finding Jess instead of worrying about her. There would be plenty of time to worry when Jess was back.

"It's in Northern Virginia, and Thea couldn't get a definite location on the GPS." Antonio said a quiet thank you and accepted the laptop. "That is what the laptop is for. I am going to cross-reference Jess' vision and the map from Kingstown Reserve." Antonio's fingers sped across the keys, and Nicole found herself holding her breath in anticipation. There had to be something, there just had to. Jess' visions had never let them down before, and Nicole refused to let this be the first time.

"Got something!" Antonio called out in a triumphant voice. Nicole whipped her head around, and glanced at the springs.

"I wondered when we came to the warehouse why there was nothing to do with the 'bread' part of Jess' vision, but now we know why. Baker's waterfall is only three miles from the entrance of the Reserve." Nicole's face broke out in to a smile and she jumped up.

"Lets go." Her voice was laced with steel and raw determination, and Antonio followed her wordlessly to the car. He knew that anyone who got in Nic's way now was a dead man. She was out to protect Jess, and Jared Hart…beware.

"Agents, where are you going?" Pollock called out as they ran past him. Nicole turned around and ran backwards as she replied,

"We found a lead on Jess. Baker's falls, Kingstown National Wildlife Reserve." Nicole and Antonio sped out of the parking lot so fast the wheels screeched and dust flew up around them. Right now, they didn't care because Jess needed them, and they could finally help. Finally, they could put an end to this nightmare and bring her home to the people that love her.

It was a good two hours later when the car pulled up near the falls. Nicole climbed out of the car and drew her gun. Removing the safety, and quietly instructing Antonio to do the same thing, she advanced on the falls. They had parked in a concealed location in the woods, a good four yards from the actual falls. Nicole couldn't wait to sneak up on that bastard and give him a piece of her mind. As far as she was concerned, if she had to kill him for 'resisting arrest' she wouldn't even blink twice. Jared Hart had tortured and terrified her partner and best friend…and tried to kill her and Antonio.

"Nic." Antonio whispered and gestured her over to him, a little to the left of her. He was standing in front of a car. The back door was wide open, and there was a puddle of blood in the backseat. Bile rose in Nic's throat, and she lifted one shaking hand to her mouth. More blood…more of Jess's blood. Would this nightmare ever end? Would Jess ever be free of this awfulness?

"Oh, god. She's still bleeding. Bad." Nicole's voice was hollow with suppressed pain. What if they had reached her too late?

"But she's alive." Antonio was right, Nicole knew it deep down, but she couldn't help the sinking feeling in her stomach. Something, besides the obvious, was wrong. Her heart was full of so much anguish it seemed to spill over, and she didn't think she could keep from crying much longer. But right now, she had to focus on finding Jess alive and brining her home. Her tears could wait until after Jess's agony had ended, until after Nicole knew she could hug her friend hello.

"The door is open; either meaning Jess managed to escape or Hart took her somewhere." Nicole glanced at the ground and gesticulated to the drag marks. With one finger over her mouth to show silence, she and Antonio followed the drag marks closer and closer to the falls. When the exited the clearing and were directly in front of the raging fall, Nicole let out an instinctive gasp of horror. Jess. She was clearly unconscious, and even from the other side of the waterfall, Nicole could see the blood that caked her body. Her hair was matted in it, her chest was coated in it, and even the grass around her seemed darker. She had lost so much blood…Nicole didn't know if she could even make it to the hospital. Nicole's chest tightened at the very site of her, and silent tears rolled down her face. She was so livid at how Jess had been treated, so scared for her friend's health. Seeing the agony Jess had to have experienced and noticing how deathly ill her friend was only made Nicole more hurt, and more determined to make Hart pay for everything he had done.

"Jess." Nicole cried out, her voice full of such pain it cracked suddenly. Before she had a chance to make her way over to Jess, Hart walked out from behind the bushes.

Quick as a blink, Nicole raised her gun and fixed it on his chest, almost daring him to let her shoot.

"FBI, you bastard. One movement, one eye twitch, and I will blast you from here to Sunday." Her voice was pure iron, and the only evidence of her pain and emotions were the tears that steadily trickled from her eyes.

"I wouldn't become to trigger happy if I were you, Agent Scott. Not if you want your partner back." Ignoring her gun, Hart advanced towards Jess. With one leap, he had his foot on top of her bloody torso. "You see, all I have to do is move her ever so slightly and your severely weakened friend is sent tumbling in to the waterfall. There are rocks down there, Agent Scott. Big, pointy rocks that will tear her body to bits."

Nicole glanced from Hart and his authoritative position over Jess to Antonio beside her, to the rocks and rushing water below. If she did shot him, he could easily have time to sent Jess to meet her watery grave. If she didn't…he could still kill Jess. Could she decided, shoot or not, knowing that her decision could cost Jess her life?

**Hahaha, cliffhanger again. Subplot will be beginning next chapter…thank you to everyone who let me know your opinion! Updating later this week…**


	9. Happy Homecoming?

**Sorry it took me so long to update…..but life happens... The subplot will start in this chapter!**

**(SLIGHTLY graphic descriptions in here)**

**Chapter 9**

Nicole took a deep breathe and went with her gut, trusting her FBI instincts and quick wit to save her partners skin. Whatever happened, Nicole had to gain the upper hand in this situation. It was the only way Jess even had a fighting chance. She'd be damned if Jess was going to die because of this bastard. Nicole was scared beyond belief, but she refused to put her fear above Jess' life. She would handle whatever came at her, from vindictive cons to raging waterfalls, to bring Jess home. It was her job as an FBI agent, her job as a partner, her job as a friend.

"Well, Hart, she has better chances with the rocks than with you." Staring at him straight in the eye, Nicole pulled the trigger. She didn't want to kill anyone, even Hart, but she would to it a hundred times over if that meant Jess could return home soon. He was asking for it, and she was more than prepared to dish it out.

A loud** pop **echoed throughout the grove, and Nicole could feel the bullet as it exited the gun. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, and Nicole winced as she practically saw Jared Harts body recoil with the shock of the bullet. Nicole could see the muscles ripple and Hart's knees buckle as his body faltered and fell. She watched in helpless horror as his foot kicked out, as if his last dying impulse was to wreck more havoc upon Jess' world. That last flick of his foot kicked Jess' prone and helpless body in to the rushing river.

Nicole was frozen in place. She watched as Jess' body tumbled in to the river and disappeared under the frothing water, but her body couldn't process it. Her limbs refused to move, no matter how she felt. Her brain was screaming at her to take an action, to try and save Jess, but her body felt detached from her head. She was in shock and for the first time in her life Nicole couldn't act back.

"Nicole!" Antonio's panicked voice shocked her out of her stupor. Act, don't react, she told herself. Freezing wouldn't save Jess, so she had to move. Not pausing to reply to Antonio, Nicole threw her gun behind her and dove in to the water. The chilled water sent a shock of pain up her system, but she shook it off and pressed on. Jess hadn't gone through this whole ordeal to die now. Besides, Nicole had just gotten her trained. She didn't want to train a new partner any time soon.

Nicole's arms cut through the water like razors, trying to over come the pull of the current. The water was like an icy fist that squeezed around her heart, preventing her from going under water or moving too fast. The current was so strong, and like angry hands, was constantly pulling her under. Nicole could feel her torso going numb with cold, and the current had a strong grip on her legs. She felt like she was fighting an uphill battle; every stroke she made, every yard she gained, the current pulled her back even farther. Nicole was terrified that the river would win; she wouldn't be able to make it to Jess before she either died on her own or was killed by the approaching waterfall. She had never felt so helpless in her life, and it wasn't a feeling she liked very much.

Nicole could feel her own strength succumbing to the current, and she knew that if she didn't find Jess soon, they both would be claimed by the waterfall and the rocks below. Taking a deep breath, Nicole ducked under the water and swam quickly, using her legs as private propellers. She searched desperately, using her limited vision for sight and her hands for feelers. Suddenly, her hands touched something silky, something that sifted through her fingers like no plant ever had. Looking down, Nicole saw Jess' body, tangled in the underwater plants. Taking a deep gulp of air, Nicole dove down again. Using sharp nails, she ripped Jess from the weed's grip and began her way back to shore. Finally, finally, Jess' fate was in her hands. Her friend finally had a chance.

Once they broke the surface, Nicole made sure to keep Jess' head above the water. She was already unconscious and hurt, and Nicole was determined to keep her in one piece. Fighting her fatiguing muscles and the never ending pull of the current, Nicole managed to drag Jess close to the shore. Antonio reached out his arms and Nicole pushed Jess as close to him as possible. Nicole knew that no matter how much she wanted to, she didn't have enough strength to get her on that bank. She was willing to sacrifice her pride to save her friends life.

Accepting an arm up from Antonio, Nicole hardly let her muscles recuperate before she ran over to Jess. Picking up her friends hand, Nicole's eyes searched Jess' face for any signs of life. She had to glance away as Antonio stepped in and began to perform CPR on the seemingly lifeless body. Nicole couldn't watch Jess this way. Taking a 'dip' in the river had only made Jess look worse. The blood that had covered her body was gone, but she still looked like she had been wrestled from death's grip. Her skin was pale, and a deep purple bruise covered the area from her chin to her left temple. A black eye covered the upper right side of her face, and several handprint shaped bruises were apparent on her upper arms. And, now that she had been pulled from the water, she had begun to bleed again. Nicole watched helplessly as trickles of blood fell from the crown of Jess's head, and as blood bubbled out of her chest and on to the grass below. Nicole almost vomited as she noticed that Antonio, who was still performing CPR, had his hands covered in Jess' blood.

A hacking cough filled the area and water spewed out of Jess's mouth. Nicole's eyes lit up and she leaned over her friend quickly. Alive! She was alive! Jess tried to speak, but all she managed was a few croaks and muttered sounds. Her body was too weak to form coherent sentences, and the effort alone seemed to make her look weaker.

"Jess! It's going to be ok. An ambulance is going to be here soon and everything will be alright. Hart is gone, and you are home. You are safe." Nicole spoke soothingly to Jess as she glanced around for something to use as a bandage. If she didn't stop this bleeding soon, Jess might not make it until the ambulance arrived. Antonio, who was on the phone with Pollock and the EMCs, tossed her his shirt. Nicole promptly began tearing it in to strips.

Nicole wrapped the first strip over Jess' head wound, which seemed to be bleeding the most profusely. Checking on her friend again, Nicole cursed quietly when she saw that Jess had fallen unconscious. They had Jess now, yes, but the real problem would be keeping her alive.

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When Jess opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a pristine white ceiling. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen a ceiling. Where was she? When she tried to think back, everything was just a haze of bright colors. It hurt her head to think about it.

Jess tried to sit up, in order to have a better look around the room, but her aching ribs and throbbing head screamed in protest and she collapsed against the pillows once again. What had happened to her? She felt…horrible, to put it mildly. Horrible and confused.

"Jess? Can you hear me? Jess, it's Nicole. Everything is going to be ok, I promise." Jess turned her head ever so slightly towards the voice. It echoed hazily through her head, and didn't ring familiar. The woman in front of her drew no recognition either. _She seems to know me…is Jess my name? Who is she? Does she know who did this to me? _

"Who are you?" Jess asked, her pain and fear showing through in her voice. Try as she might, when Jess tried to recall memories everything came out as a blur of flashing colors and a never ending buzzing sound. As far as she was concerned, she hadn't existed before today. Except, apparently, she had friends here and a horrible past that made her body ache terribly.

If she was loved so much, and something so horrific had occurred to her, why couldn't she remember anything?

It was almost as if her slate had been wiped clean…and all she had left was the remains of what had once been.


	10. Clean Slate

**OMG I am so0o0o sorry it has taken my so long to update! My computer has been messed up, and I had to re-install everything…and with Spring Break I got preoccupied… Thank you to my loyal reviewers, who kept pressuring me to update! I am back because of you! **

**Chapter 10 **

Nicole took an instinctive step forward, closer to the bed and the fragile Jess within it. Nicole shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She chalked up the last thing she heard, that crazy heart-wrenching thing, to her nerves and lack of sleep. Surely Jess hadn't forgotten them…had she? Nicole shook her head again, and searched Jess' eyes for any sign of recognition. Nicole refused to even consider that Jess had finally returned as a mere shell of who she once was. Jess hadn't fought so hard to live, and Nicole hadn't fought so hard to find her, just to watch Jess loose everything that made her…Jess. She had lost so much to Jared Hart; part of her innocence, many weeks of her life, and Nicole would be damned if she was going to let Hart claim Jess' memories, too.

Much to Nicole's dismay and utter horror, there was nothing in Jess' eyes at all. No spark of recognition, of life, or even shock or horror regarding the ordeal she had just been thorough. All Nicole got from those eyes was confusion and wonder.

"Who are you? Where am I? What happened to me?" Jess sounded frantic, desperately turning her head to avoid Nicole's searching gazes. She scrambled up as far as she could go without crying out. It was obvious that seeing Nicole at the foot of the bed, being so close to a…stranger…was petrifying Jess.

The last sentence came out barely louder than a whisper, but Nicole heard it nonetheless. More than heard it, she felt it. Those ten words, uttered by a foreign Jess, were like a stab to Nicole's heart. Everything Jess had accomplished as an agent, everything they had been through as a team and even as friends…simply forgotten. Wiped from her memory by the damaging hands of a vengeful convict, and left to lie at the bottom of that waterfall Nicole had faced mere hours ago. Nicole felt like she had when Jess had first been kidnapped; helpless, and afraid to her very core. They had Jess back, but all they had were her outer coverings. The true and precious Jess, her memories and her very personality and soul, were stripped away.

Silent tears fell from Nicole's eyes as she turned to face the window, the wall, anything but Jess. It was true, horribly and terrifyingly true. Jess, her partner and best friend Jess, didn't remember anything. Not Nicole, not her own name, not even the traumatic ordeal that had plagued her life for the past month and almost killed her. Jess was empty of memories, devoid of everything that made her Jess. It was Jared Hart's last kick in the teeth…he had taken from the world what might truly have been Jess' last few weeks. She was alive, in body, but her soul and her mind seemed to be in tatters and not quite acquainted with each other.

"What is going on? Please, please tell me something. Anything." It was that last plea that made Nicole turn around and wipe the tears from her eyes. No matter what had happened to her memory, she was still technically Jess, and still a victim. Even if she didn't remember it, Nicole did. And Nicole figured she would remember every agonizing minute of waiting, of worrying, until her dying day.

Nicole heard Jess cry out as she tried to sit up. Her mouth wrenched in torment and she sank back on to the pillows, suffering from agony from both her body and psyche. Jess' eyes darted over every square inch of the hospital room, alerted by every beep and whirl of the machine and every noise Nicole made. She was truly lost, and Nicole's heart went out to her.

"Your name is Jess, Jessica Mastriani. My name is Nicole Scott." Nicole said slowly, advancing on Jess as she spoke. She looked for any sign of acknowledgement, but all she saw was grim acceptance. "WE work for the FBI together, on the missing person's task force. Things got…rough on the last case and you suffered the brunt of it." Nicole tried to limit what she gave Jess, not wanted to overload her system too quickly and secretly hoping she might remember some details on her own. Doctors always say that it isn't good to tell the…the amnesiac tic patient everything; it helps them to work at remembering on their own.

Jess didn't seem to notice Nicole's ploy. She simply nodded thoughtfully and frowned, obviously thinking. "Is this," Jess forced out, gesticulating to her many accumulated bruises, bandages, and the assortment of machines hooked up to her, "why I lost my memory?"

Nicole nodded and smiled sadly. "The doctor hasn't been in yet, and everyone else is waiting for you to recover outside, so I can't be sure. When he returns, the doctor can give you a formal cause. But in my opinion as an agent, I would say so." Nicole looked at Jess again, and was relieved to see that she was comfortable with Nicole standing at the edge of the bed. Before, she had all but jumped out of bed to avoid Nicole, but now Jess seemed almost…familiar with her, or at least content. Nicole figured that for now, begrudged acceptance or even naive trust was as much as she was going to get. Maybe, once the doctor made his diagnosis, Nicole would know what this new Jess was capable of. As much as it pained Nicole to say it, for now she would just have to watch Jess wallow in her own…emptiness.

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Jess felt salty tears roll down her face, and she wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was the look of torment and loss on the face of the women before her, Nicole. Maybe it was the new knowledge she had recently gained, the knowledge that let Jess know that whatever had happened to her, it had been painful to many people, herself included. Or maybe it was the sense of loss and desolateness that filled her very being and threatened to consume her. Jess knew that she had forgotten so much. She had lost her memories of her parents, her childhood, her friends, her hopes and dreams…Every time Jess really tried to remember, she never got past the hazy fog of colors that seemed to inhabit every corner of her mind. She felt cheated of her life, and she wanted nothing more than to gain it all back. Her biggest problem was that as much as she wanted to remember, she wasn't even sure where to begin. Jess knew nothing about herself except for the few tidbits Nicole had graced her with. And that wasn't enough to bring back the flood of memories she had lost.

Jess, temporarily forgetting her current condition, tried to roll over on her side to avoid the pain stricken eyes of the women Nicole. Jess felt horrible for forgetting, for letting Nicole down by forgetting, for letting herself down by forgetting. And Jess was tired of feeling horrible; she was already sick of it, and she couldn't remember anything before this hour.

As her ribs turned sharply in her chest, Jess let out a guttural groan. The pain was like nothing else she could imagine. It was sharp and seemed to go on and on in a never-ending wave if red hot agony. Her body felt like it was caught on fire, and she was being consumed form the inside out. Her eyes began to cloud over, and her heard began to pump harder against her damaged rib cage, only causing more pain. The pain never seemed to stop.

Jess felt a soothing arm on her shoulder, and even though she knew it had to be Nicole, she was struck with a sudden flash of terror.

_A flash of fists, a sharp kick to the chest, and cold feel of metal. Flailing arms and a laugh that went on and on and made her skin crawl with fear. _

Jess screamed louder, this time because of the memory and the intense fear that followed it, and jerked away from any physical contact. Her body, surprised by the sudden movement, jolted her ribs again. This last movement hurt even more than the last one, and Jess felt like she was stuck in hell. Her head hurt like hell, her eyes were fuzzy, her chest was on fire and her entire body seemed to vibrate with intense fear and an even more oppressing amount of sheer agony. Jess screamed one last time as the pain seemed to swallow her whole, and then her world went peacefully dark.

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Nicole watched in horror as Jess passed out from the pain, and all the machines in the room began to beep frantically. Nicole, for the second time in her life, was frozen by shock. Lucky for her, swarms of doctors rushed to the scene.

Nicole watched helplessly as the doctors tried to revive Jess. Her heart seemed to stop when she heard to flat-line beeping of the heart monitor.

"She's coding!" someone yelled. Nicole wanted to do something, anything to wake Jess up but she knew all of her efforts were futile. She had done her job by finding Jess and brining her here, and now she had to trust the doctors to do their job and keep her alive.

When the crash cart was rolled in, Nicole felt bile rise in her throat and her head began to swim with dreaded anticipation.

Flatlining. Coding. Crash Cart.

Nicole was afraid, honestly and deeply afraid.

"Charge to 100 jules…"

**Sorry, I can't help the cliffhangers. Don't worry, now that my computer is back and running almost perfectly, I should be able to update more regularly. I should have a new chapter up by Saturday…**

**Thank you to my reviewers who kept me in line! This chapter is for you!**


	11. Gathering Ties

**Ok I am finally back! The last bit of school was incredibly hectic, and then my computer decided to reject every method I used to fix it. Many thanks go out to **charmed princess imzadi **for keeping me on my toes about this story and making me update! And thank you, everyone, for sticking with this story despite my lack of updates.**

**As you may have heard, MISSING has been cancelled by Lifetime. PLEASE, sign these petitions to help ensure that our show at least has a fighting chance of returning next year. Let our voices be heard. **

**(Apparently, links aren't allowed but they are at petitionspot .com under Entertainment and Media, and then search for _Give IT Up for a Fourth Season of Missing _and _4th season of Missing on a new Network_. PLEASE do this, for the show! One by Izabel Snow has 470 reviewers at current time, and another one by Lexie has 105. Lets get those numbers higher!) **

A high pitch, desperate scream emanated from her throat, from a place within her soul, and Nicole clasped a hand over her mouth to stifle it. The room was abuzz with confusion already and she didn't need to add her grief to the mix; Jess was in v-tag and the doctors were jolting her almost constantly now. So many doctors, so many machines. Jess looked so pale and lost, and despite every jolt the doctors gave her she had yet to return to the world.

Nicole felt like she was just in the way, because here in this hospital room all she happened to be was a desperate, grieving, loved one who could do nothing to help the situation. She had dealt with so many people in that position while at work in the FBI. Nicole just never thought she would be put in that position. The position where she had to watch, wait, and fret without making a move. The position where she had to let someone else protect and fight for Jess' life. Nicole was usually the fighter. But here, her guns and fancy footwork would accomplish nothing. Here, she was totally and completely at the mercy of the doctors. All she could do was hope…and pray.

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Finally, it was quiet, calm. Peaceful. No beeping machines or crazy mourning woman. Nothing throbbed or ached or stung. She felt like she was drifting, flying or maybe simply floating, but whatever it was…she never wanted this amazingly pleasant sensation to stop. The world was white and hazy, as if she was enveloped in a cloud and there was no one or nothing in sight. Everything was perfect here. Pristine, tranquil… She jerked suddenly in the air and watched her body float closer and closer towards the bottom of the cloud. Helpless to stop it, her body jerked again and she let out a silent moan of mourning. She was leaving this beautiful place, she knew it, and there was nothing she could do.

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"We got rhythm." Nicole's head flung around towards the doctor and the now steady beep of the heart monitor. "She's stable, but we need to keep an eye on her. She'll sleep for a while now, we increased her morphine drip. Hopefully, that will keep her from moving around too much and this won't happen again." Nicole nodded and thanked each individual doctor as they left. Nicole knew she could never thank then enough for what they had done, and she didn't have the words to try and express her gratitude.

Hesitantly, she walked towards Jess' bed. Nicole's heart had filled with hope when she had heard the doctor's exclamation of life. Maybe now, Jess had a chance to recuperate properly. Maybe after her wounds healed, she could deal properly with the trauma she had endured. Because she would remember her life before Jared Hart. Nicole couldn't give up on that hope, for Jess' sake, and for hers. A smile worked its way on to Nicole's wan face as she gazed upon her sleeping friend. Jess looked almost normal, like she was sleeping almost. There was a chance for her yet, Nicole was sure of it.

Hearing a commotion outside of the door, Nicole quietly exited the room and shut the door behind her. Jess needed her sleep, so Nicole would settle the noise issue. To her surprise, the noisemakers were Pollock, Antonio, and Collin. There were hassling an ICU nurse, who was looking rather flustered but seemed to be immune to the badges they were flashing in her face.

"I don't care if you are Gandhi, Elvis, or the President himself. Unless you are related to the victim in question you are not stepping foot in my ICU. And I am most certainly not giving you her room number. If the patient in question is not in trouble with the FBI or the Department of Justice, and you are not a relative, I must ask you to step out of my unit." Nicole almost laughed as she approached the scolding nurse and her disgruntled and furious colleagues. Pollock was very red in the face and Antonio's hands were clenched in to fists, a clear sign that he was restraining his temper. Collin looked completely overwhelmed by the entire situation. He was in work clothes, but his face…his expression was one of complete and utter devastation. Nicole didn't pity that nurse one bit. She would never, in a million years, speak to Pollock like that.

"Actually, miss, they can just follow me. I have clearance from Agent Mastriani's doctors. Just ask him, when you get the time." Not waiting for a response or rebuttal, Nicole beckoned her colleagues towards her. They followed close on her heels, eager to see Jess and desperate to avoid being stopped along the way.

Nicole stopped them right outside Jess' room. "She's in here, but she's sleeping. She can have visitors, but only one person at a time, and only for 15 minutes every hour as ordered by the doctor." Nicole looked around and her eyes fell on Collin. He loved Jess, Nicole could see it in his eyes, and he had been worried sick about her. Collin's boss at the DOJ had refused to let him off of work immediately to sit at Jess' side, so he had to stay at his office for a few hours before he had been allowed to come to the hospital. Nicole knew that waiting had killed him, and she recognized how anxious he was to see her. Before Nicole could tell Collin to enter, Pollock spoke up.

"Agent McNeil, why don't you take the first shift. I need to call my wife and let her know what is going on and Agent Scott needs a break. Some food, liquid, rest. Agent Cortez, I hold you responsible to making sure she receives all of those things. You are probably the only person she won't shoot for suggesting it." Nicole opened her mouth to argue, but Pollock was already half-way down the hall.

"Come on, Nick. Get a little water and some food from the cafeteria. Give Collin some alone time with Jess. She will still be here when you get back." Guiding her ever so slightly with a hand on the small of her back, Antonio and Nicole walked towards the cafeteria.

Taking a deep breath, bracing himself for the worst, Collin turned the handle and entered Jess' room. When he thought of everything she had been through with Jared Hart, he knew that there was a very great chance that she was in pretty bad shape. Nicole had said that Jess had amnesia. The very thought made his chest tighten. Would she remember him, and how much he loved her? Or was the woman he loved lost to him forever, lost in the recesses of her own mind. He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, trying to avoid actually looking at Jess. He wanted Jess to heal and recover at all costs, even at the cost of her memory of him. But he was a little selfish. He didn't want to loose her in his life, as the love of his life.

Collin shifted his gaze to Jess, who was laying so quiet and so still on the stark white sheets. The ever present beeping of the machines filled the room, but Collin seemed to tune them out almost instinctively. All of his attention was on Jess. Somehow, she seemed smaller than she had before. He smiled at the thought. Her face was pale, there were machines attached to her in dozens of spots, but besides that she was simply…Jess. His Jess. And right now, whether she knew it or not, she needed him.

"Hey, sweetheart. I'm here now, here for good." Collin said as he positioned himself next to Jess on the bed. He took one of her hands in his own and began to absentmindedly caress the top of it, to ease his discomfort as much as hers. "We called your family in Indiana. Toni is coming as soon as she can get a flight, and Doug is coming with her. They are so worried about you. But don't worry, the doctor's say that your injuries will recover with time and rest." Collin spoke to Jess in a soft tone, so not to alert anyone outside to his presence and to keep her asleep as well. He talked for hours, about his last job, about his plans for them in the future, even about baseball. He was just so happy to see her, to be able to touch her; he didn't want to step away. A small but significant part of him was terrified that if he let get go, if he stopped talking to her and moved away, he would return only to find her gone once again.

A good hour passed before Collin's voice began to get hoarse. But he kept on talking, refusing the urge to get a drink of water. He paused, to collect his breathe, when he felt a light tug on his hand. Jess was moving her hand. He looked at her eagerly, hoping beyond all hope that she would remember him. But even beyond that, hoping she would just wake up. Whether she acknowledged him or not, the world was just a much better place with Jess in it.

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Jess opened her eyes slowly, suddenly aware of three things. One, she was no longer in the peaceful white world and she definitely did not like that. Two, her head was pounding, her side ached, and her chest was on fire. And three, there was a strange man sitting on her bed holding her hand. Gathering all of her current strength, which could probably fill a thimble, Jess tried to remove her hand from the stranger's grasp and let out a blood curling, fright-filled, scream of terror.

**This is a little short, I know, but it is more of an in between chapter- it fills in some blanks and prepares you for the next big event, which will happen in the next chapter. I am going out of town for a week or so….but I am now school free and full of ideas. Be prepared for a slew of chapters! **


	12. Desperation

**Hey….just wanted to apologize to all the people who have been reviewing this story and waiting for the next chapter. I had it finished ages ago, all remaining chapters, but my computer crashed and everything was lost. I have also have had so much homework and extracurricular activities writing has been impossible. But, thanks to the constant reviews and PM's from loyal readers, I decided to do some speed writing and get this chapter out. Hope it was worth the wait. **

Colin recoiled from Jess, her frightened scream and frantic eyes stabbing him in the heart. She didn't remember him, not at all. She didn't remember how they met, or the first time they kissed, or any of the thousands of times he told her that he loved her. She didn't remember loving him, or being loved by him. And worse, he had scared her. He had scared, terrified, Jess. Collin's shirt began to feel too tight around the collar and his palms began to sweat. There she was, the love of his life, in pain…and when he went to console her, she screamed like he was coming to kill her. The realization that to Jess he was simply a strange uninvited man in her hospital room cut Collin to the core. In one nauseous, chaotic moment, he couldn't decide if he wanted to throw up or shake her until she remembered. Collin felt totally and completely helpless; he had to sit there and watch Jess' terrified gaze sweep the room, and listen to the pure agony and fright laced through her echoing scream, but he couldn't help her. He couldn't ease her fear without leaving entirely…maybe forever…and Collin knew that a lifetime without Jess would kill him.

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Jess felt her voice reverberating against her throbbing ribcage and her raw throat, but she couldn't seem to stop screaming. The threat, the man who had been sitting on her bed, had retracted to the corner of the room and looked more scared than she did. But Jess couldn't stop screaming. She screamed for the pain she was feeling now, in her body and in her soul. She screamed for all the people she knew that she was forgetting, like the frantic woman from before or perhaps this young man. She screamed from the frustration of not remembering, and from the fear that she never would. She screamed until the pain was so great her body took over for her mind, making her throat spasm painfully and her ribs explode like nerve-wracking fireworks. At this point, she entered her own world. She was hazed over with pain, her body too busy handling the war going on within to acknowledge the world outside. Jess saw the woman from earlier race to her side, with sticky tears dripping off her nose onto Jess's hand. Jess watched the doctors as they fumbled with the machines and she saw the young man who had frightened her skulk out of the room. But, although she saw everything, her body did not capture the memories. Jess felt as if she was floating above the world; she was able to look around and see what was happening, but she was inside her own secret bubble and therefore not able to acknowledge the people around her. Like watching a movie, if the TV was wrapped in saran wrap. The world was hazy, and as soon as she recognized someone or something the memory flew out of her head like it had wings of its own.

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Nicole looked around the cafeteria dully, counting the seconds until she could return to watch over Jess. She was as helpless as she had ever been, true, but she was more helpless in the cafeteria, three floors away from Jess. She spun her fork around the glop of mashed potatoes, and looked listlessly at the oil-saturated burger on her tray. She wasn't hungry, hadn't been hungry since Jess had disappeared, and sitting here was a waste of her time. Nicole opened her mouth to tell Antonio as much, but he shot her a glare.

"Nic, come on. Jess is asleep and as soon as she wakes up, she has Collin eager to wait on her hand and foot. Not to mention a team of nurses and doctors. You can take some time to nourish yourself. Besides, how are you going to help Jess if you pass out and the hospital has to admit you for testing?" Antonio's voiced was consoling, but Nicole could sense the worry and tension underneath. He was just as afraid as she was. He was just better at hiding it.

Nicole took a few bites of her burger, forcing her throat to swallow. Finally, after what seemed like a year, she had finished her burger and received Antonio's grudging permission to return upstairs. She got in to the elevator, and as she climbed the floors a sudden thought struck her. What if Jess remembered Collin…but she didn't remember her? Or even everything that Jess had been prior to Washington, D.C? What if Jess' memory of Collin was the only thing that stuck? Nicole saw a glimpse of logic in that; Jess considered Collin the love of her life, which might make her unconscious mind less likely to forget him. The unselfish and practical part of her wanted this to come true. Jess needed someone she could trust, and Collin loved Jess so much. But the selfish part of her dreaded the possibility. Jess was the best partner Nicole had ever had, not to mention that she was Nicole's only true friend in, well, ages. Nicole didn't want to loose Jess in her life.

The elevator doors swung open and Nicole stepped on to the floor. Immediately, she was swept up in the chaos. A terror-filled scream was echoing off the corridors, and doctor after doctor ran down the hallway. A lump settled in Nicole's throat and she felt her heart constrict at the force of her fear. Jess. Something was wrong with her best friend. Nicole took off at a dead run and wheedled her way past the doctors in Jess' room until she stood by the bed. Nicole could hardly believe her eyes and ears. Jess looked normal; she was lying down, and not thrashing or squirming about. But her eyes were glazed over and her mouth was wide open, and the most heart-wrenching cry was emanating from her. She scream went on and on, and no matter how hard Nicole clenched Jess' hand or how many times to doctors adjusted her morphine drip and other levels, Jess continued to scream.

Finally, as if by the grace of god, the medicine kicked in and Jess' mouth closed. Her body was still humming with pain and exertion, but she wasn't screaming anymore. Nicole wiped the sweat from Jess' brow with one shaky hand before straightening to following the doctor's out of the room. Nicole's eyes had filled up with unbidden tears, and she desperately wiped her eyes to erase evidence of emotional weakness. Nicole Scott did not cry.

Nicole looked around the hallway, past the prying eyes of patients that had flocked to the door in search of the commotion, and past the hustle and bustle of doctors returning to their stations. She eventually spotted him, sitting alone in a plastic chair by the window. Nicole walked over and squeezed his shoulder sympathetically, knowing what he must be going through. From the scene inside Jess' room, she hadn't recognized Collin either. Collin turned around, and his mouth trembled as he met Nicole's anguished gaze.

"I don't know what to do, Nicole. I can't help her because even my presence terrifies her. I can't cure her because I don't have a clue where to start. I want to do something, dammnit! I don't want to watch her wasting away in there without doing something about it!" Collin punched the end table, sending magazine pages fluttering to the ground in a whirlwind. Nicole sat across from Collin and tried to calm him down, telling him stories about Jess and her from before he had met them. They stayed like that for hours. Just discussing Jess and what she meant to them and reminiscing over more pleasant times.

At some point, Collin fell asleep and Nicole eased her self out of the uncomfortable chair. It was time to go to sleep in the couch by the window in Jess's room, where she had slept for the past few nights. Nicole tiptoed past the dozing nurse and slipped inside the pitch black room. The beeping to the machine's steadied her nerves and told Nicole that, or the time being, Jess was stable and ok. Nicole was just settling down on the couch when she heard someone call out to her. Someone on the other end of the room.

"Nicole? Is that you?" Nicole flew off the couch. Jess? Was Jess awake…and was she TALKING to Nicole? Was this nightmare finally over?

**I love this cliffhanger thing. But, I promise, it won't be a two month cliffhanger. I am reconstructing my chapters and will have them up ASAP. If I am taking to long, tell me in a PM or a review. That's what sped me up this time! **


	13. The Inevitable Breakdown

**Ok, I lied. I'm sorry. I have a really hectic schedule this year, and sleeping is an issue….writing is a dream. FINALLY I got time and I literally sat and wrote this straight through. For all my dedicated readers, all you who have stuck through the long waits and the annoying cliffhangers and the completely bold-faced lies, this one's for you. Thank you for making me write again. **

"Jess?" Nicole's breathe caught in her throat and she could feel her heart beating. _Please, god_. She prayed silently. _Let it be Jess. Let this nightmare be over._

The other voice sighed in pity, and Nicole felt the air leave her lungs in one rapid movement. Her newfound strength and exhilaration left and she collapsed on the couch, biting her lip and shaking her head rhythmically. She had no control over her emotions anymore; she had found herself crying more this week than in the past twelve years of her life. Every shred of self control she had gained when she'd become an agent had disappeared the moment Jared Hart came back into their lives. And for once, Nicole didn't care. She didn't care that she was out of control and emotionally distraught. She didn't care that everyone around her, Antonio, Pollock, Collin, could see how stressed and miserable she was. She didn't care that she was being pitied. Because right now, all she cared about was Jess.

"Sorry, Nicole. It's-it's just me. Just Thea."

"Yeah.

"Ah, Nicole-"

"It's strange isn't it, how things work out?"

Thea turned her head toward Nicole, frowning at the thin tone of voice the older woman was using. She sounded past the point of breaking, and Thea was more than worried.

"What do you mean?"

"I've been in the FBI for eleven years, give or take. I've gone deep undercover with some real bad-ass criminals and come out with merely a scratch on me. Jess is a novice. An amazingly talented agent to be sure, but barely three years on the job. She's been on some tough cases herself; and she ends up here, like this, because I decided to let her go up to her apartment alone."

Nicole laughed, her voice dry and forced. Thea could see the tears pooling in her eyes but she knew better than to mention it.

"Nic, it wasn't your fault. You two go out all the time. There was no way for you to know that he was going to be up there. It just wouldn't have been possible."

"My head knows that," Nicole said softly. "My FBI training knows that. But my heart? The part of me that knows how much Jess means to me?" Nicole suddenly cut herself off, shaking her head and looking back at Thea warily. She had been such a proud woman for so long…letting someone in, especially a virtual stranger, was an almost impossible feat.

Thea walked slowly toward Nicole, and perched on the end of the couch, as silently as possible. They sat like that for several moments, eyeing each other. Finally, Nicole began to speak again. This time, her voice was louder and a bit stronger.

"It-its just not fair. Jess does everything right. She follows the book; sure, she bends the rules once and a while but by and large? She's your ideal agent. And she ends up here, so beat up she can't even sit up, and so traumatized she doesn't even know her name."

Nicole stopped for a second, and Thea bit her tongue. She wanted to say something. Part of her wanted to ask Nicole why she was telling HER, of all people, these kinds of secrets. Another part of her just wanted to reassure Nicole and heal her up as best as possible. The rest of her could tell that Nicole wasn't done. She wasn't finished letting everything out, and Thea knew that she needed to sit back and wait for Nicole to be done.

Nicole pushed her hair out of her face, to hide her swiping gesture over her eyes. She knew she sounded crazy; after a lifetime of bottling her feelings, here she goes spilling her guts to a colleague. And not a well known one at that. But at this point, Nicole was so far past recovery she didn't even care. So what if her pride was gone. She was proud when dealing with Hart in the first place, and Jess got shot. This time around, she was proud with Hart and almost lost Jess in a river. Nicole wasn't about to loose Jess to amnesia because of pride. Besides…the more she talked, the easier it was to breathe.

"I don't understand why this happened to her, and not to me," Nicole said abruptly. "I didn't follow the book like Jess. I did the dangerous cases. And I didn't do them the safe way, either. I'd cut the loose ends, do the tricks. I'd never get caught and never do enough to get in trouble, but I have always been trouble. And nothing happened to me, nothing like this."

Thea sighed. An age old question, to be sure, but the answer never got any better.

"Life just isn't fair, Nic. There is no reason why Jess is in that bed and you aren't. Jared Hart is the only reason anyone is here at all, and you are the only reason she is even alive."

Nicole snorted. "Me."

Thea looked at her in disbelief. "Yes. You. Have you forgotten about a certain river? She would have drowned in there if it wasn't for you. Amnesia is horrific, don't get me wrong, but it's easier to get an alive Jess to remember than a dead one." A small smile formed on Nicole's face, and Thea saw herself out.

"Hey, Thea."

Thea poked her head back in to the room.

"Yeah?"

"You needed me for something?"

"Oh, yeah. The doctor's. Jess's doctors. They wanted to talk to you about what to do next."

Nicole nodded. She sat on the couch for a few minutes longer, listening to the beeping on the machines, watching Jess sleep. She looked content and normal when she slept. Almost as if nothing had happened at all. Nicole composed herself, slowly setting her steely exterior back in place. Her talk with Thea had bled off some of the poison, and she was feeling a bit more normal. Like her old self; proud, take charge, confident Nicole. Setting her shoulder's back and her stilettos foreword, she strode out of the room.

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The doctor was waiting by the couches outside Jess's door. He was the head doctor on the case; Dr. Shepard. A nice, knowledgeable man to be sure. Nicole shook his hand and smiled, forcing the corners of her mouth up into a convincing grin. He, thankfully, got right into business.

"Agent Scott, here is the problem. Agent Mastriani's external injuries are extensive, that is to be sure. But she could be healed in one to two months. Provided she settles down. Her internal injuries, her amnesia and the strife it is causing her, is making her go out of control. This is then increasing the damage to her body. Every time she…reacts to something, she puts added stress to her body. Hence the constant flat lining and her current high pain level. She needs to choose; between healing her mind and healing her body. Both need to be done, but she can't do both at the same time. At least not without her own admission."

"What do you mean?" Nicole asked, unable to raise her voice from a horrified whisper. Jess would have to choose, between remembering her past and being alive? Thea's words from before echoed through her head, about alive Jess being better than a dead one. Had they spoken to soon?

"At this moment, Agent Mastriani is having the past forced upon her. She can not cope, at least not right now, with her body and her past. She needs to decide; if she wants to deal with her memories than she is more than welcome to do so. If she chooses to stay ignorant, however, we are going to have to ask you and your friends to leave. I am sure, at another time, you can educate your friend. But now, her physical health comes before her mental."

Nicole looked at the doctor in disbelief. He was basically making this decision for Jess. Sure, they had traumatized her. Sure, Collin had made her scream like a banshee and Nicole had made her cry. But that didn't mean Jess wanted to forget them…forever. She had to know they loved her. Jess had to know they only wanted to help. And she wanted to remember. She wouldn't send them away, would she?

Nicole was afraid that if she left now, what miniscule progress she had made with Jess would evaporate. And she would never get her best friend back. Unfortunately, the state of Jess' mind rested in the hand of a tormented and pain-ridden woman who didn't even know who she was, let alone what she wanted.

Nicole swallowed, almost choking with the effort.

"Fine. It's…it's best for Jess. Whatever it takes to make her well, right?" Nicole said, with forced acceptance. "I will go with you, and ask her. And if she tells me she doesn't want to remember, I will leave. And let her forget her life"

**Dun. Dun. Dun. I think this cliffhanger thing is an addiction. Even when I don't write for two months it seems to pop up. I will seriously try to update. I am now really excited about this story, I know exactly where it's going. HOPEFULLY, by next weekend, an update. But you know me. Keep reminding me lol. It works!**


	14. And the verdict is in?

**Hello again, everyone. Yeah, I know, I suck. Between finals and then work, and my new computer, I totally lost track of my writing time. But hey, here I am lol…I have the next chapter all written and ready to post tomorrow. I swear up and down this time. **

Chapter 14

Nicole shifted in her seat, the cold plastic digging uncomfortably into her back. A small frown tugged at her mouth, and her eyes showed evidence of weariness and worry.

Today was the day. The day the doctors would offer Jess a chance to erase her past, her memories, forever. The day the doctors would effectively rip Jess out of Nicole's life.

She knew that Doctor Shepard was going to let Jess choose if she wanted to work on remembering or not, but Nicole wasn't stupid or delusional; she knew that Jess was frightened by her foreign visitors, and Nicole knew that Jess wanted to be left in peace.

A tiny voice deep in the back of her head told Nicole that if she really cared for Jess, if she really wanted her to recover and beat this, than Nicole would walk away right now.

She would let Jess forget her past in order to save her body and stop pushing her friend past her capabilities. But yet, despite this internal conscience, Nicole couldn't let go.

Yes, she knew that Jess was physically better off forgetting. But in the long run? One, two, even three years down the road, when the bump on her head has healed and her ribs are mended, Jess' physical health won't be anywhere near as important as her mental health.

Physical health can be temporary, but mental health, especially when you are dealing with someone's very identity and sense of self, is on going.

Nicole couldn't let herself sit back and let Jess strip herself of the very things that made her Jess. If someone forgets who they were, are, and can be, they have lost their very essence and, in away, their life.

In Nicole's book, a loss of identity and potential is almost equal to a loss of life. As an FBI agent, she couldn't sit back and watch someone sign away their life, even if it is to keep their ribs from hurting or their head from pounding. She was willing to use the crash cart on Jess herself if need be, but Nicole knew that if Jess chose to forget her past and heal only her body, she would never recover.

She would be an empty vessel, a shell with no visible cracks on the outside, but vacant and lifeless inside. There would be no Jess inside that body, no laughter, no jokes, no memories. Nicole would rather spend a year inside this hospital room, holding Jess' hand while she recovered, than five minutes with the soulless Jess. And the Jess she knew, way before Jared Hart threw their lives to hell, would have said the exact same thing.

"Nic?" Startled, Nicole whirred around. Antonio was standing behind her, holding a steaming cup of coffee. He too looked tired and bedraggled, and she noticed the dark circles under his eyes.

While she had been skipping in and out of working, doing cases as minimally as possible in order to spend more time at the hospital with Jess, Antonio had been picking up the slack. He had to work almost triple the case load, and still had time to keep her from falling apart.

She owed him so much, and Nicole honestly didn't know how she could have gotten through this emotionally tumultuous catastrophe without him. The hardened glare in her eyes softened as she looked at him, and Antonio eyed her oddly as he reached to hand her the coffee. Emotions usually weren't Nicole's thing, so he wasn't used to her wearing her feelings on her sleeve. She must be in a worse place than he realized.

Nicole's stomach rumbled unexpectedly, and Antonio glared at her.

"Yeah, yeah. Food, I know. We need it. I need it. I shouldn't skip this many meals." She hedged off his lecture with a wave of her hand and a desperate grab for the coffee. He handed it to her, but soon broke out into a long spiel on the dangers of skipping meals and depriving your body of nutrients. Nicole half listened, nodding in all the right places, but her mind was elsewhere.

"Antonio." Where's Colin? He ran out of here yesterday and I haven't seen him since. He usually stops by Jess' room on his way to work." Antonio lowered his eyes suspiciously and cleared his throat.

"He, ah, had a really busy case load today and just went straight in." Nicole leaned forward in the seat and glared Antonio straight in the eyes.

"I've known you for twelve years, and you have always been a terrible liar. Where's Colin, and why do you have to lie about it?"

"You aren't going to like this, Nic."

"I am going to like it even less if you beat around the bush. Tell me like it is, Antonio."

"Colin's in the hospital. In the ICU." Nicole's eyes widened with alarm, and she clapped a hand over her mouth in horror.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"No, he's not hurt, Nic, he's alright. It's…Jared Hart. When the cops went up to the lake to collect evidence, they found his body. Except he wasn't quite as dead as we had thought. He's been in a coma for the past week, and woke up this morning."

Nicole stood up rapidly, spilling her coffee onto the floor in one fluid movement. The steaming liquid dripped down her leg, but she didn't even notice. Furious eyes locked with Antonio's, and her voice practically dripped venom as she began to speak.

"You knew? The man who tried to kill our best friend, who made her life a living hell, is lying down the hall and you didn't say anything? Jess is in that hospital bed because of Jared Hart and he is only a few doors down. How could you not say anything? How dare you not say anything?" Her eyes were infused with anger, lit up and glittering with rage. Antonio took an instinctive step backwards. Nicole was an intimidating woman on a normal basis, but when she was angry, she was downright terrifying.

"I wanted to say something! You think I want him, alive, breathing the same air as her, or as you? He deserves every ounce of pain he got and so much more. I couldn't say anything, Nicole. You needed to focus on Jess; her mental health and recovery is more important than Jared Hart ever will be. I knew that if I told you he was alive and mere feet from you, it would take the entire FBI office to keep you from firing your gun again."

"She's my partner, Antonio. It was my job to take care of her, and I failed. It was my job to take care of the bastard that hurt her, and apparently I failed that, too. I won't fail Jess again. Give me his room number." Antonio shook his head vehemently, and strengthened the tone in his voice. He saw, now, the underlying thread of guilt laced through Nicole's steely exterior. She was tearing herself apart inside because of this, and he ached for her.

"Absolutely not. You aren't responsible for this, Nicole. What he did isn't your fault. He's a soulless bastard, and you can not be held accountable for what he did; there was absolutely nothing you could have done, before, during, or after, that you didn't already do. You fought for her when she was gone, and you even fought a raging river to get her back. You have been by her side every second, even though she doesn't appreciate it to the level that she would have before the attack. None of this is your fault, and I won't let your guilt send you to jail for murder." Antonio softened his voice, and looked straight into her eyes. He saw past the fire and the anger and got a glimpse into her soul; she was hurting inside something fierce, and he kicked himself for not noticing before.

Nicole felt tears well in her eyes and forced them down. She couldn't cry now, not with Hart down the hall and Jess making the biggest decision of her life. Too much was at stake for emotions to come into play. She repeated this mantra over and over in her head, trying to stop the tears from coasting down her cheeks or her lips from trembling. She shook her head, sending salty rivulets in every direction. The light caught each tear and played across its surface, illuminating its glossy features.

Nicole looked at Antonio, her eyes red rimmed and her shoulders taut with exertion. She was using all of her will power to keep from crying, from breaking down and letting everything pour out of her. But Nicole Scott did not melt down, not when so much was at stake, and especially not when people could see her.

"Just go, Antonio. Go to the office or go see Jess. This may very well be the last time you can see her, if Dr. Shepard gets his way."

"Nic-"

"Go." Her voice was forceful and almost angry, and she softened it with a small smile. "I promise I won't kill anyone while you're gone. Even scum like Hart."

Antonio squeezed her hand momentarily, and looked into her eyes, searching for that tortured piece of her soul he had glimpsed earlier. "It's not your fault, none of this is." He whispered softly, before walking down the hall.

Nicole collapsed in one of the plastic chairs, her tall legs drawn to her chest. Her heart was hurting beyond words, and the agony she felt was tearing up her reason, her logic, and her soul. Watching Jess like that, in constant pain but yet with no will to fight, made Nicole only feel guiltier. It was her fault Jared Hart did so much damage to Jess; it was her fault Jess may never know herself again. The depth of her crime was almost too much to bear, and Nicole felt her internal walls breaking down.

Tears flooded out of her uncontrollably, and she bit back a desperate moan. She sat like that, the proud FBI agent who had broken so many authoritative figures with her spirit and strength, sobbing her remorse into the side of a plastic hospital chair.

A loud knock on the door startled her awake, and Jess winced as her sudden movement jarred her ribs.

"I'm up. You can come in." She prepared herself for someone new: another boyfriend, a new colleague she had yet to meet. Someone else who would sit here and tell Jess how important she was to them and how desperately they wanted her to say that she cared for them too. Except she never recognized them, not even a little, and she never stopped feeling guilty for letting them down.

"Dr. Shepard. Is it time for my next check-up already?" Jess was surprised, and pleasantly so, that her only visitor was non-dramatic and here for purely medicinal reasons. She might actually get to take the nap she had been wanting now.

"No, your vitals haven't changed. I wanted to talk to you about something a little more personal, more long term."

"Personal? Please don't tell me we have some sort of long lost connection too, because I swear—"

"No," Dr. Shepard laughed. "I never knew you as Agent Mastriani. But this does have to do with your former life, Jess. As a doctor, it is my job to make sure your body heals. Your injuries are massive and painful, but should be well on their way to recovery by now. In my professional opinion, your mind is split between healing your body and your memories, and because of this, nothing is being healed."

"Well, that sounds slightly problematic. I don't want to stay like this forever, Doc. What can I do to…speed up the decision?"

"You need to choose which part of you to heal." Dr. Shepard said bluntly. "If you choose to heal your mind, and focus on the memories that Agent Scott and the others have been sharing, than you may end up staying in this bed longer while your body's health takes backseat. However, if you choose to focus on saving your body, I can assure you that Agent Scott and everyone else will not bother you while you again. You can assume this identity and become a new Jess, or you can retain your old memories whenever you see fit, after you are sure that your body is in a place that you will have a future."

Jess looked around the room, flustered. She opened her mouth to tell the doctor to get the agents out of her face, finally, so she could stop feeling so guilty and so worthless in this form. He, however, beat her to it.

"Take your time with this decision, Jess. When you are ready, ring a nurse to come and get me."

The doctor shut the door behind him, plunging Jess' hospital room into darkness. Feeling lighter than she had when she'd awoken, with a prospective 'out', Jess settled into her pillows and shut her eyes. Maybe, if she played her cards right, she could be healed and out of this bed in a few months. And, hopefully, without this gnawing guilt in her stomach that Nicole and the boyfriend and all the others kept inflicting on her again and again and again.

She wasn't Agent Mastriani, she wasn't even sure she was Jess, and she was tired of THEM making her decisions for her, telling her who and what she was. Finally, Dr. Shepard had given her an out.

She could be free.

**Does that constitute as a cliffhanger, or am I getting rusty? **

**I am not going to bother making any promises, because you and I both know I am prone to distractions. But I will say the next chapter is up and ready to post as soon as tomorrow…again, sorry, sorry, sorry for being so unreliably…but thanks to everyone who has stuck with this story despite me lol. **


	15. Improper Decisions Gone Awry

**Ok so we have established that I suck and am annoyingly unreliable with updates. I really do apologize for that, but unfortunately I have a one track mind; if I forget, I need a crack on the head to remember. So thank you to all those who PM'ed and reviewed this while I was being…stupid; you swelled my head just large enough for me to remember that I love to write and I really need to get my act together. So here is to you, my awesome motivators!  
**

Chapter 15

Jess opened her eyes and glanced around the hospital room. Oddly enough, it was empty. There were no overeager and long forgotten boyfriend clutching her hand, and Nicole wasn't hovering around the bed. For the first time in as long as Jess could remember, which, granted, was around three days, she was alone. No doctors, no reminiscing lovers or friends. Just her and her thoughts and the whirring hospital equipment.

Jess sat in silence for a second, soaking up the tranquility. She still felt as if she had been run over by a car, or possibly an entire fleet of Hummers; breathing was an agony she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy and her head hurt like hell.

Somehow, despite all of this, the general lack of energy and activity in the room made Jess feel at peace. Ever since she had woken up in the hospital bed, she had been through one event after another. Either Nicole was prompting her with memories, or her boyfriend, whose name she didn't quite recall, was spilling out their love story. Doctors flitted in and out, and Jess' own body rebelled constantly, as if mirroring the turmoil around her and acting out accordingly. This was the first time Jess had been by her self since she had awoken, the first time she had a chance to really sort her thoughts.

The silence, which had seemed so golden mere seconds before, now stretched on forever. Jess began to picture things in her head that she didn't want to think about, things the boyfriend had mentioned or memories Nicole had whispered to her while Jess was resting. Events that Jess knew she should remember. Important things that could help her regain her memory.

Every thought, however, only increased the pain in her head. The more Jess contemplated the memories Nicole and the boyfriend had tried to plant, the more she probed around in her own mind for even a semblance of recognition, the worse Jess' head hurt.

Thinking made her brain begin to pulse, but forgetting made her eyes tear and her heart ache.

Jess was tired of seeing the disappointment and frustration in Nicole's face. She wanted to remember a time where they were laughing, where she met the boyfriend, and even when and how she ended up this hurt. Jess wanted to know her name, backwards and forwards without being reminded, as well as anything else personal she could possibly think of. Jess wanted her identity back, pure and simple.

The realization dawned on her, and suddenly Jess felt more helpless and lost than ever. Before this very second, Jess hadn't particularly cared if she had regained her identity or not. She didn't want to stay lost and alone for ever, of course, but she hadn't felt a connection to Nicole or the boyfriend or any of the memories thrust at her. She didn't have a reason to fight for her recovery.

Somehow, simply being removed from the situation for a few moments and thrust into pure silence had reminded Jess just how much people at the hospital seem to care about her. How many memories these people have with her; laughing, crying, kissing. How much it hurts that she can't share this with the people who seem to love her the most.

Tears clouded her sight and blinded Jess. She refused to let herself cry again; she had done enough crying, and screaming, and hurting in the past three days to last a lifetime.

She fumbled around the nightstand for the remote control, eager to take her mind off of her more depressing thoughts. She was sure Nicole would come back soon, armed with a see-through smile and a bevy of stories she was just dying to share.

And for the first time, Jess figured she'd really listen to the stories and try to picture the scenes in her head. Besides, being loved too much beat the hell out of the alternative. Even a half hour of silence and solidarity had made her want to scream. Jess couldn't imagine recovering, for how every many weeks or months that might take, without a helping hand to squeeze or a teasing word from Nicole or some other outside influence.

The screen lit up with the news, and she settled back in her bed to listen to an anchorwoman describe a world she didn't remember. A few images flashed across the screen; this year's newest Nissan model, a snapshot of the current U.N meeting, and a middle aged man's gory face with a flashing headline; 'Apprehended Con Man Back from the Dead.'

The face was surprisingly familiar to Jess; not in a conscious way, because she had no idea who he was or how she could know him, but something within her body recoiled at his menacing grimace and she felt an unfamiliar link click into place inside her war-torn brain.

She knew this man. The details of how and why were fuzzy, but Jess didn't know how else to explain her body's automatic reaction to his 2D form. And she was reacting---her palms were sweating, her knees were shaking even as she reclined in the bed, and her heart was thumping out of its casing.

She scanned the TV screen for more information regarding this terrifying mystery man. If she recognized him after spending the past two weeks of her life playing dead in this bed, and god knows what else before this, Nicole had to know him. They were FBI partners, and best friends, after all. She just needed a little more information before she confronted her partner.

Well, first she'd ease over the news with her new revelation, her 'I want to discover who I am for real and I promise to stop running away from my fears' kick. Jess knew that Nicole would be exuberant, and she could already see the yoke of guilt and responsibility lifting from Nicole's trembling shoulders.

A few words and a hospital logo flashed on the screen as the perky TV spokeswoman chattered on and on in her annoyingly high pitched voice. Jess caught a glimpse of a rose and a horseshoe before the woman sped off in a tangent regarding water pipes downtown.

Jess frowned, again feeling the tug inside her brain that was beginning to symbolize recognition. Damn, I am getting good at this. Jess though wryly. That logo seemed oddly familiar.

Jess looked around the hospital room, the only place she honestly remembered living, before a hint of red and a grey corner caught her eye. There, embroidered on her pillowcase, was the symbol emblazed on the TV, burning her eyes like a scarlet letter.

He was here. The man from TV, the one who frightened her devastated body with a mere photograph, the one person she actually recalled, even if it was in a macabre sort of way. She had to find him; she had to know why she remembered his clenched fist and narrowed eyes over Nicole's gracious smile or the boyfriend's attractive face.

Jess eased herself out of the bed, wincing as her shaken ribs jolted on impact with the floor. Her legs were shaky, not used to supporting her weight, and she eagerly slipping into the wheelchair conveniently placed by the door.

Covertly, Jess peeked out the door into the empty hallway before slipping outside and quietly shutting her door behind her. Hanging the 'Do not disturb' sign on the handle, Jess silently wheeled down the deserted hallway. It was one a.m, and she was in the living/currently permanent wing. Rounds were not for another half hour, and emergencies rarely occurred. She was safe for now.

Feeling like a true FBI agent for the first time since waking up, Jess scouted the hallway for clues to the mystery man's whereabouts. He was, at least to her, nameless. She could hardly look for his face in such a vast building.

Jess clenched her eyes shut and pictured his face vividly inside her mind, ignoring the silent tears that hovered in her eyes unbidden or the tremor in her heart. Nicole had once mentioned her 'unusual case solving abilities', although she had skirted away from the topic ever since, and Jess was dying to figure out if she was telepathic or psychic or just damn intuitive.

Suddenly, things began to flash before her closed eyelids. Images, quick and full of light but little meaning. It took all her willpower to stay seated and focused.

House. Car. Blood, rivulets and rivulets of blood raining down like water. An eagle with outstretched wings flying…flying….flying…and colliding with the number 129.

She shook her head to clear the destructive pictures from her mind. Her body shook with exertion and fear; what the hell had she just done? What were those images? Memories? It had to be that. She had to be remembering something, something connected to the man. She was looking at his face, after all, in her minds eye. She was just finally locating some suppressed memories.

She bit her lip in contemplation. 129…the only hallway in the one hundreds was, well, one hallway over. She'd been in the ICU for what had seemed like forever, and the numbers playing over the doctor's intercoms always stuck inside that bracket. He was a hallway over, if she wanted to believe her memories were somehow connected to now. Coincidentally. But it wasn't as if she had any other leads to follow, and she was getting desperate. He was a source, good or bad, on her former life and she wasn't going to let him slip through her fingers.

Jess slowly let the wheels drop in and out of her fingers, gingerly rolling up to room 129. No one was within sight, and not a sound came from behind the hospital door. It was ICU, after all. It was likely that he was asleep…or in a coma. He might not be able to tell her anything. She should just go and let him sleep.

Jess shook her head and gripped the doorknob with her white knuckles. She owed herself this; to be Jess, she needed to good and the bad, the nice memories and the ugly ones. And this man clearly awakened some nasty memories.

She opened the door, her heart hammering in her ears so loudly she could barely hear herself wheel inside. The man who had instilled such fear in her from behind a TV screen was sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed, shrouded in white blankets, an oxygen mask over his mouth. He looked harmless.

Jess look at his face and rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. What was she thinking, coming all the way down here to spy on a sleeping man? She'd really lost her head. Jess was just turning her head around when an arm, as cold as the grave, shot out and grabbed her wrist like a vise.

She froze in terror, her tongue withering inside her mouth as every nerve on her body stood on end. She knew that touch. She loathed that touch, although she had no clue why.

With his free hand, the man pulled his mask from her face and grinned at her, his eyes dancing insanely in his head as he smiled a crooked and treacherous grin.

"I told you you'd never get away, Jessica. Even now, even here, I have you."

His voice was deep and scratchy, and a million thoughts ran through her head in lightning speed. Pain. Fear. Wet and cold water eating her alive. Sticky blood coating her hands and her nose. Hard concrete floors pounding against her limbs. Fists and feet flying in fury. His fists. His feet. That fist, the very one that was curled around her wrist like a cobra bracelet.

Jess remembered. Maybe not everything, enough to know that this man had wrecked havoc upon her world and brought endless levels of pain down around her ears. She could see his looming face in front of hers in a room, a car, a pristine white bed, a muddy riverbank.

Terror coursed through her veins as she realized that she had just fed herself up like a juicy steak to the one person she should have avoided for the rest of her life. She was helpless, unable to stand for too long, and the strength in his grip led her to believe he was up to par. She was trapped here, in his world again, and god knows how long it would take him to kidnap her again.

A scream died in her throat, her body too worn out from her ironic journey to this room, her legs and ribs too sore to squirm from his grasp. When his dark eyes feasted on her fear stricken face, she ached to get away from the madness that was feeding on her pain and fright.

"Give me one second, Jessica, and I can get us out of here. I have been waiting for you, you know. Waiting and biding my time until you followed your stupid little boyfriend as he comes to shout mindless curses at my allegedly comatose body. I hurt myself pretty badly to see you again, my pet, took a lot of pills. You owe me now." he nodded his head as he tore the IV from his arm with two fingers.

"We are going to leave any second, just you wait. And then we can be together, for ever and ever, and I will never feel alone again."

**Dun dun dun. I am getting a hang of this cliffhanger thing again. I am not going to bother promising to update soon because I doubt any one will believe me, given my record. I do promise to obey the PM's and reviews I get; I think I have proven that I am very much like a puppy. Praise and encouragement, and perhaps a little shove, are the only things that keep me playing. **


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